Modeling Biological Invasion: The Case Of Dengue And Mangrove

It is well known that organism invades territory in the form of wave fronts whose characteristics are determined primarily by environmental conditions such as hydrology, salinity, climate, carrying capacity and resource. In this invited paper, we will consider two ecosystems, one comprising mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegypti that are the vector of dengue fever while the second consists of coastal ecosystem composed of mixtures of mangrove and hardwood hammocks in south Florida. Their dispersal dynamics modeled by simulations DEER and MANHAM will be discussed. Implications regarding approaches for the eradication of A. aegypti and the replanting or recovery of coastal mangrove forests will be presented.