Math Biology Seminar: Felix Funk

Frequently, the interests of a group do not align with those of its members. An individual could, for instance, do well by considering the collective needs in its actions but many times, it can gain even more benefits within the group by pursuing personal interests to the detriment of the entire community. This social dilemma is at the heart of public good interactions, and of particular importance when the production of a public resource is essential for the survival of a population. This scenario occurs, for example, when microbes secrete substances which grant microbial communities resistance to antibiotic drugs. The arising dynamics for the public good producing cooperative and the freeriding non-cooperative subpopulations have previously been analyzed by Professor Hauert and Professor Doebeli and extended by Wakano et al. into a spatial setting, in which the diffusing microbes form clusters and showcase rich patterns. As many microbes sense chemical gradients - and with that the public good - directional movement can lead to the aggregation of cooperative clusters and the exploitation through the defective subpopulation alike. In this talk, I will incorporate chemotactic migration in the aforementioned models and discuss how this extension affects the composition of the subpopulation, and whether cooperation can be maintained. This talk also showcases some parts of my research that are still in progress, and I’m happy to hear your feedback.