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1998 New Zealand Mathematics Colloquium
July 6-9, 1998
Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington, New Zealand

Organizers
Peter Donelan, Chris Atkin, John Harper, Philip Rhodes-Robinson, Jim Neyland, Geoff Whittle, Steve White, Vladimir Pestov, Tom Crosby

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A Simple Model of Nematode Parasites in Sheep - A Critical Examinationof Experimental Parameters
by
R. R. Kao
AgResearch - Wallaceville Animal Research Centre
Coauthors: M.G. Roberts

A model of nematode parasites previously developed by Roberts and Heesterbeek (1995) is outlined, in which the life cycle of the nematode is greatly simplified. The model parameters are then examined for three nematode species, control of which is important to the New Zealand sheep industry. Consideration of climate effects and annual replacement of host stock show that for conditions favourable for parasite transmission, the value of the Basic Reproduction Ratio or Q0 is quite robust, however under poor transmission conditions it can vary quite greatly depending on the model assumptions made. If the additional considerations of climate variation and annual replacement are added to the simple model, it is shown to reasonably describe the qualitative behaviour of some experimental data, indicating it to be a useful tool for further investigation of some of the underlying assumptions of sheep-nematode dynamics.

Date received: June 23, 1998

Copyright © 1998 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # cabd-66.