Would it be useful to have a simple ODE model to help frame some of the output of the IBM model? This might help for makes our results more general as well.
For example, we could use an Anderson and May-esque formulation to model 4 state variables
Juvenile raccoons (DDE)
Adult raccoons (ODE)
Eggs in environment (ODE)
Rodents (ODE)
We would keep this model very simple (i.e. no dispersal, limited age structure, simple worm parameters, etc.) and explore how decreasing raccoon birth rat (birth control), increasing raccoon death rate (culling), increasing worm death rate (worm treatment), and increasing egg death rate (cleaning latrines) affected the eggs in the environment (a proxy for human risk). We could then compare these results to the more complex, system-specific IBM to better understand what novel results the individual-based approach is providing compared to a simpler approach.
Not an immediate priority, but let's keep it in mind as we wrap up the IBM portion of the analysis.
Would it be useful to have a simple ODE model to help frame some of the output of the IBM model? This might help for makes our results more general as well.
For example, we could use an Anderson and May-esque formulation to model 4 state variables
We would keep this model very simple (i.e. no dispersal, limited age structure, simple worm parameters, etc.) and explore how decreasing raccoon birth rat (birth control), increasing raccoon death rate (culling), increasing worm death rate (worm treatment), and increasing egg death rate (cleaning latrines) affected the eggs in the environment (a proxy for human risk). We could then compare these results to the more complex, system-specific IBM to better understand what novel results the individual-based approach is providing compared to a simpler approach.
Not an immediate priority, but let's keep it in mind as we wrap up the IBM portion of the analysis.