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Curacao |
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Curaçao is a computer program that simulates the sterile insect release method (SIRM) of pest population suppression, first conceived by E. F. Knipling (1955).
The user can investigate the
effects of several variables on the effectiveness of the method and discover what happens when
some of the basic assumptions of the model are relaxed or violated in some way. The user
should gain some understanding of the sorts of things that complicate the application of the
technique in situations that are more realistic than
those assumed by Knipling in his simple analyses.
The simulation takes place on the Caribbean island of
Curaçao where Knipling first demonstrated the
feasibility of sterile insect release. The island is
divided into 2 or 3 zones, with differing numbers of
cells (or levels of spatial resolution) in each zone.
The
simulation can be either deterministic or stochastic.
There are four factors which can be made density dependent:
the probability that a female will mate,
fecundity, survival, and the probability of emigration
from a cell.
The Native Insect Population dialog box
allows you to set the initial populations of native
insects in each of 3 zones and to set the native
population parameters, including the aggregation
index, the probability of emigration, the proportion of
females, the eggs per female and the survival to adult
rate.
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