Branching Processes: Variation, Growth, and Extinction of Populations

Biology takes a special place among the other natural sciences because biological units, be they pieces of DNA, cells or organisms, reproduce more or less faithfully. As for any other biological processes, reproduction has a large random component. The theory of branching processes was developed especially as a mathematical counterpart to this most fundamental of biological processes. This active and rich research area allows us to make predictions about both extinction risks and the development of population composition, and also uncovers aspects of a population's history from its current genetic composition. Branching processes play an increasingly important role in models of genetics, molecular biology, microbiology, ecology and evolutionary theory. This book presents this body of mathematical ideas for a biological audience, but should also be enjoyable to mathematicians.

PATSY HACCOU is Associate Professor of Mathematical Biology at the Institute of Biology, Leiden University. She is co-author of Statistical Analysis of Behavioural Data.

PETER JAGERS is Professor of Mathematical Statistics at the Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University. He is a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. He is author of Branching Processes with Biological Applications and co-editor of Classical and Modern Branching Processes.

VLADIMIR VATUTIN is leading Researcher at the Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow, Russia. He is co-author of Probabilistic Methods in Physical Research.