Modelling the Evolution of Menopause using Ordinary Differential Equations
0Day 2 | 5:30 PM–6:00 PM
"Modelling the Evolution of Menopause using Ordinary Differential Equations"
Presented by:
Anthia Le, University of Queensland, Brisbane AUSTRALIA
https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/simiode/expo/2025
Abstract: When we examine the life history of humans against our close primate relatives, the great apes, we see that human adult lifespans include a post-menopausal life stage. So how did human females evolve to have old-age infertility? Morton et al. suggested that ancestral male mating choices, particularly forgoing mating with older females, was the driving force behind the evolution of menopause. As shown in our paper “Male Mating choices: The drive behind menopause?”, the male-mate-choice hypothesis is amendable to investigation using systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The conclusions from our proposed analogous ODE system contradicts those of Morton et al., as we found that even the slightest deviation from an exclusive mating preference for younger females would counteract the evolution of menopause. However, this result could be achieved using simpler ODEs which are a suitable learning tool for undergraduate students. To convey the art of modelling to students in mathematics (i.e. how to translate a real-world problem into mathematical expression), I will talk through model construction of the two ODE systems. Along the way, I will also show how to analyse these systems using concepts that second and third year undergraduates would know such as explicitly solving a linear 2-D ODE system, drawing a bifurcation diagram or a nonlinear ODE, and drawing a phase plane of a nonlinear 2-D ODE system.