Prof
R.G. Bowers
e-mail: sx04@liv.ac.uk
Research Interests
My present research interests are in the fields of evolution, population
dynamics and epidemiology. I am particularly interested in adaptive dynamics,
multi-species systems and host pathogen interactions. I often work in
multi-disciplinary teams with life scientists.
List of recent papers
·
J Turner, A Howell, C McCann, C Caminade, RG
Bowers, D Williams, Matthew Baylis
A model to assess the efficacy of vaccines for control of liver fluke infection
Scientific reports 6, Article number: 23345 (2016)
·
A Best, R Bowers, A White
Evolution, the loss of diversity and the role of trade-off
Mathematical Biosciences 264, 86-93 (2015)
·
Mike Boots, Alex Best, Roger Bowers, Andy
White.
How specificity and epidemiology drive the coevolution of static trait diversity in hosts and parasites.
Evolution 68 (6), 1594-1606 (2014)
·
Joanne Turner, Roger G Bowers, Matthew
Baylis
Two-host, two-vector basic reproduction ratio (R0) for Bluetongue
PloS one 8(1),
e53128 (2013)
·
Turner, J., Bowers, R. G. & Baylis, M.
Modelling bluetongue virus transmission between farms using animal and vector movements
Scientific Reports 2 (2012)
·
Hoyle, A., Best, A. & Bowers, R. G.
Evolution of host resistance towards pathogen exclusion: The role of predators
Evolutionary Ecology Research 14, 125 (2012)
·
Boots, M., White, A., Best, A. & Bowers,
R.
The importance of who infects whom: the evolution of diversity in host resistance to infectious disease
Ecology Letters (2012)
- Bowers, R. G.
On the determination of evolutionary
outcomes directly from the population dynamics of the resident
Journal
of Mathematical Biology, 62, 901-924 (2011)
- Hoyle, A., Bowers, R. G., and White A.
Evolutionary behaviour, trade-offs
and cyclic and chaotic population dynamics
Bulletin
of Mathematical Biology, 73, 1154-1169 (2011)
- Thomas
Evans, Roger G. Bowers, Martin
Mortimer
Adaptive Dynamics of Temperate Phages
Evolutionary Ecology Research, 2010, 12, 413-434
- Yanni Xiao, Roger G. Bowers, Sanyi Tang
The effect
of delayed self-regulation on host-pathogen population cycles in forest insects
Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2009, 258, 240-249
- Andrew Hoyle and
Roger G. Bowers
Can possible evolutionary outcomes be determined directly from the population dynamics?
Theoretical Population Biology, 2008, 74, 311-323
- J. Turner, R.G.
Bowers, D. Clancy, M. C. Behnke, R. M. Christley,
A network model of E. coli O157 transmission within a typical UK dairy herd: the effect of heterogeneity and clustering on the prevalence of infection,
Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2008, 254, 45-54
- Rachel Bennett
and Roger G. Bowers
A baseline model for the co-evolution of host and pathogen
Journal of Mathematical Biology, 2008, 57, 791-810
- Hoyle, A., R.G.
Bowers, A. White and M. Boots
The influence of trade-off shape on evolutionary behaviour in classical ecological scenarios,
Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2008, 250, 498-511
- Kieran J. Sharkey, Roger G. Bowers, Kenton L. Morgan, Susan E.
Robinson, Robert M. Christley
Epidemiological consequences of an incursion of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza into the British poultry flock,
Proceedings of the Royal Society London, 2008, 275, 19-28
- Giafis, A and Roger G Bowers
The Adaptive Dynamics of the Evolution of Host Resistance to Indirectly Transmitted Microparasites,
Mathematical Biosciences, 2007, 210, 668–679
- Hoyle, A. and
R.G. Bowers
When is evolutionary branching in predator-prey systems possible with an explicit carrying capacity?
Mathematical Biosciences, 207, 210, 1–16
- Evans, T., Bowers
R.G. and Mortimer, M
Modelling the stability of Stx Lysogens.
Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2007, 248, 241–250
- Yanni Xiao, Roger G. Bowers, Damian
Clancy, Nigel P. French
Dynamics of infection with multiple transmission mechanisms in unmanaged/managed animal populations.
Theoretical Population Biology, 2007, 71, 408-423
- Yanni
Xiao, Roger G. Bowers, Damian Clancy & Nigel P. French
Pair approximations and the inclusion of indirect transmission: theory and application to between farm transmission of Salmonella.
Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2007, 244, 532-540
- Rachel Norman and Roger G Bowers
A Host-Host-Pathogen Model with Vaccination and its Application to Target and Reservoir Hosts.
Mathematical Population Studies, 2007, 14, 31-56
- Sharkey K., Bowers R.G., Morgan K., et
al
Pair-level approximations to the spatio-temporal dynamics of epidemics on asymmetric contact networks.
Journal of Mathematical Biology, 2006, 53 61-85
- Turner, J., Bowers, R.G., Begon, M., Robinson, S.E. and French, N.P.
A semi-stochastic model of the transmission of Escherichia coli O157 in a typical
J. theor. Biol. 241, 2006, 806-822.
- Yanni
Xiao, Damian Clancy, Nigel P. French & Roger G. Bowers
A semi-stochastic model for Salmonella infection in a multigroup herd.
Mathematical Biosciences 200, 2006, 214-233
- Christley,
R. M., Pinchbeck, G. L., Bowers R. G., Clancy D., French N. P., Bennett R.
& Turner, J.,
Infection in social networks: using network analysis to identify high risk individuals.
American Journal of Epidemiology, 2005, 162, 1-8 - Yanni
Xiao, Roger G. Bowers, Damian Clancy, Nigel P. French.
Understanding the dynamics of Salmonella infections in dairy herds: a modelling approach.
J. theor Biology, 2005, 233, 159-175 - Roger G. Bowers,
Andrew Hoyle, Andrew White and Michael Boots.
The geometric theory of adaptive evolution: trade-off and invasion plots.
Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2005, 233 363–377 - White, A. and Bowers,
R. G.
The adaptive dynamics of Lotka -Volterra systems with trade-offs: the role of interspecific parameter dependence in branching.
Mathematical Biosciences, 2005, 193, 101–117 - Michael Boots and
Roger G. Bowers.
The evolution of resistance through costly acquired immunity.
Proceedings of the Royal Society - Bowers, R. G., White
A., Boots M., Geritz, S. and Kisdi E.
Evolutionary branching/speciation: contrasting results from systems with explicit or emergent carrying capacities.
Ecological Evolutionary Research, 2003, 5, 883-891. - Holt, R. B., Dobson,
A., Begon M., Bowers, R. G. and Schauber, E.
Parasite establishment in host communities.
Ecology Letters, 2003, 6, 837-842 - Bowers, R. G. and
Boots, M.
Baseline criteria and the evolution of hosts and parasites: D0, R0 and competition for resources between strains.
J. theor. Biol., 2003, 223, 361-365 - Turner J., Begon, M., Bowers, R. G. and French, N.
A model appropriate to the transmission of a human food-borne pathogen in a multigroup managed herd.
Prev. Vet. Medicine, 2003, 57, 175-198 - Turner J., Begon, M. & Bowers, R. G.
Modelling pathogen transmission: the interrelation between local and global approaches.
Proceedings of the Royal Society - Bowers R.G.
Community dynamics, invasion criteria and the co-evolution of host and pathogen.
Complexity International, 2002, 08, pp15 - Begon,
M., Bennett M., Bowers R. G., French N., Hazel S. and Turner J.
A clarification of transmission terms in host-microparasite models: numbers, densities and areas.
Epidemiology and Infection, 2002, 129, 147-153 - Bowers R. G. and
White, A.
The adaptive dynamics of Lotka Volterra Models with trade-offs.
Mathematical Biosciences, 2002, 175, 67-81 - Bowers R. G. and
Community dynamics, Trade-offs, Invasion Criteria and the Evolution of Host Resistance to Microparasites.
J. theor. Biol., 2001, 212, 315-331 - Bowers R. G.
The basic depression ratio of the host: the evolution of host resistance to microparasites.
Proc. Roy. Soc Lond. B, 2001, 268, 243-250 - White A., Begon M. & Bowers R.G.
The spread of infection in seasonal host-pathogen systems.
Oikos, 1999, 85, 487-498 - Bowers R.G.
A baseline model for the apparent competition between many host strains: the evolution of host resistance.
Journal of theoretical Biology, 1999, 200, 65-75 - Norman R., Bowers
R.G., Begon M. & Hudson P.J.
Population dynamics of Louping-ill in relation to host abundance.
Journal of theoretical Biology, 1999, 200, 111-118 - Lynch L.D., Bowers
R.G., Begon M. & Thompson D.J.
A dynamic refugee model and population regulation by insect parasitoids.
Journal of Animal Ecology, 1998, 67, 270-279 - Reade B., Bowers
R.G., Begon M & Gaskell R.M.
A model of disease and vaccination for infections with acute and chronic phases.
Journal of theoretical Biology, 1998, 190, 355-367 - Bowers R. G. &
Turner J.
Community structure and the interplay between interspecific infection and competition.
Journal of theoretical Biology, 1997, 187, 95-109 - White A., Begon M. & Bowers R. G.
Host-pathogen systems in a spatially patchy environment.
Proceedings of the Royal Society - White A., Bowers R.
G. & Begon M.
Host-pathogen cycles in self-regulated forest insect systems: resolving conflicting predictions.
American Naturalist, 1996, 148, 220-225 - White A., Bowers R.
G. & Begon M.
Red/blue chaotic power spectra.
Nature, 1996, 381, 198 - White A., Begon M. & Bowers R. G.
Explaining the colour of power spectra in chaotic ecological models.
Proceedings of the Royal Society
Recent conference contributions
- Computational and Mathematical Population Dynamics, Bordeaux 2010, “Evolutionary ecology, trade-offs and cyclic and chaotic population dynamics”
- MATHS2010, Edinburgh 2010. “Evolutionary behaviour, trade-offs and cyclic and chaotic population dynamics”
- Seventh European Conference on Mathematics Applied to Biology and Medicine, Edinburgh 2008. “The Evolution of Host Resistance: Applications of Trade-off and Invasion Plots”
- Mathematical Models in Evolution and Ecology, Sussex, 2007, “The evolution of host resistance to infection”
- Mathematical Models and
Experimental Microbial Systems: Tools for Studying Evolution,
- SIAM/SMB Life Sciences
Conference,
- Sixth European Conference on Mathematics Applied to Biology and Medicine, Dresden 2005. "The evolution of host resistance to microparasites".
- Mathematics 2005, Liverpool 2005.
- Inference for Stochastic
Population Models in Epidemiology and Ecology,
- Computational and
Mathematical Population Dynamics,
- International Conference on
Mathematical Biology,
- Adaptive Dynamics Workshop,
- Fifth European Conference on Mathematics Applied to Biology and Medicine, Milan 2002. “The co-evolution of host and pathogen”.
- XVIII Sitges
Conferences: Statistical Mechanics of Complex Networks, Sitges (
- Macroscopic organisation from microscopic behaviour in immunology, ecology and epidemiology. Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge 2001
- Mathematics and Evolution, International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Edinburgh 2001. "Co-evolution in host-pathogen communities"
- Wallaceville AgR Campus, NZ 2000. "Adaptive dynamics and the evolution of host resistance to microparasites"
- Fifth International Conference on Complex Systems, Dunedin 2000. "Community dynamics, invasion criteria and the co-evolution of host and pathogen"
- Adaptive Dynamics Forum, International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Edinburgh 2000. "Understanding adaptive dynamics"
- Fourth European Conference
on Mathematics Applied to Biology and Medicine,
- 3rd European Conference on
Mathematics Applied to Biology and Medicine, 6-10 October 1996,
Projects for prospective PhD students
Applications of non-linear differential equations to problems in
evolution, population dynamics and the theory of infectious diseases
Non-linear ordinary and partial differential equations can be used to model
problems in evolution, population dynamics and the theory of infectious
diseases. In the last case both the spread through populations (epidemiology)
and the course of infection in individuals (immunodynamics)
may be investigated. Other forms of dynamical model - such as difference
equations or lattice based systems - are also used. Often the work is
interdisciplinary, requiring collaborations with biologists, veterinary or
medical scientists.
Many PhD projects are available in this area; a selection follows:
- The mathematical modelling of the evolution of new species.
- The mathematical modelling of the spread of human food-borne pathogens (such as E coli O157 or Salmonella) - on the farm, or later in the food chain.
- The evolution of pathogen virulence and/or host resistance.
- The immunodynamics of certain virus infections. The dynamics within individuals of the diversity of the pathogen, the viral load and the immune response.
- Chaos in population dynamics and epidemiology. The colour of natural and model time series.
List of current (and recent) postgraduates
and associated projects
- Dr Tom Evans.
- Dr Rachel Bennett.
- Dr Angela Giafis.
- Dr Andrew Hoyle
- Dr Rachel Norman
- Dr Andrew White
- Dr Brian Reade
- Dr Joanne Turner
Recent grants
- 2007-12 Predicting the effects of climate change on infectious diseases of animals. Leverhulme £752,200. Prof M Baylis, Prof ME Begon, Prof M Bennett, Prof RG Bowers, Dr R Christley, Dr AP Morse, Prof T Solomon
- 2007. Pair-Level Approximations to the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Epidemics on Asymmetric Contact Networks Royal Society
- 2007. Avian Influenza Epidemic Modelling Defra £25,458.86 PIs Christley, R, Morgan, K, Bowers, R G
- 2004-07. Stochastic
spatially explicit models of the likely spread of IHN, VHS and G. salaris in farmed and wild
- 2004-09. PI on components of two programmes in the overarching VTRI grant. The programmes are (1) Between animal and between farm transmission: the role of behaviour, signalling, host genetics and management. (2) Verocytotoxin encoding bacteriophages – ecology and role in disease
- 2002-06. Understanding the dynamics of endemic and epidemic Salmonella infections in cattle and pigs: A comparative modelling approach. DEFRA – with D. Clancy and N. French.
- 1999-03. Mathematical modelling of the on-farm dynamics of food-borne human pathogens. DEFRA – with M. Begon and N. French
- 1995 The population dynamics of two competing species or strains subject to infection. The Wellcome Trust
- 1993-97. The population dynamics of mixed pathogen infections. The Wellcome Trust - with M. Begon
- 1993-98. 1991-95. Ecological models of the epidemiology of diseases shared by vertebrate hosts. The Wellcome Trust – with M. Begon
- 1993-99. Multi-species ecological models. The Royal Society, 1991 – with M. Begon
Personal interests
I play squash badly but enjoy the beer afterwards.
I walk a lot and enjoy the beer afterwards.
I enjoy the theatre and drink the wine afterwards.
Visit the The Population Dynamics, Epidemiology and Evolution Research Group Page
Visit the Website for the Defra project
Understanding the dynamics of endemic and epidemic salmonella infections in cattle and pigs: A comparative modelling approach.This includes a searchable reference database