Mathematical models and numerical methods for the movement and life cycle of invasive pests across multiple scales

Invasive pests pose a significant threat to agriculture and native ecosystems. An important tool for managing these invasive pests is mathematical modeling, which enables forecasting of movements and the establishment potential of invasive species in an area, and can provide warnings to practitioners. In particular, principled models coupled with well-designed numerical methods enable efficient forecasting of potential invasion scenarios and are critical tools. In this dissertation, we present a multi-scale modeling framework and apply it to the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula), a recent example of an invasive pest that has caused significant economic harm. We develop a site-facilitated spread model that captures the movement of individuals between discrete hosts in a landscape and apply it to the movement of Spotted Lanternfly into vineyards. We then transition to exploring the macroscopic consequences of the site-facilitated spread model, deriving partial differential equation approximations that capture the spread of entire populations. These partial differential equation approximations can exhibit anisotropic diffusion and drift even when agent behavior is symmetric in space. Finally, we look at the macroscopic spread of Spotted Lanternfly, directly modeling the effects of population growth and human-mediated spread, and present a model reduction that substantially reduces the computational complexity of existing life-cycle models and facilitates their future inclusion in macroscopic spread models.

Grantor dc:publisher

Temple University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Woods, Jacob

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Seibold, Benjamin

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Klapper, Isaac
• Queisser, Gillian
• Helmus, Matthew R.

• Mathematics
• Applied mathematics
• Ecological modeling
• Invasive species modeling
• Multi-scale modeling

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholarshare.temple.edu/handle/20.500.12613/12179

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/12179