--What Is BioQUEST?
--BioQUEST
|Collection
--Collection
|Candidates
--First Review
|Folder
|--BeeVisit
|--BENZER
|--BIRDD
|--Convince Me
|--Curacao
|--Diffusion Laboratories
|--DNA Electrophoresis
|--EcoBeaker
|--Epidemiology
|--HH
|--Image Analysis
|--Inherit
|--Interactive Calculus
|Problems in Biology
|--Investigative Cases
|and Case-Based
|Learning in Biology
|--Lateblight
|--Metabolic Pathways
|--Morphogenetic
|Construction Kit
|--PEACH
|--Phylogenic Investigator
|--PurifyIt!
|--RateIt!
|--Real Time Data
|Aquisition
|--Resistan
|--Sampling
|--SimBio2
|--Wading Bird
|
--Extended Learning
|Resources
--Software Materials
--Support Materials

	Curaçao
	Phil Arneson and Barr E. Ticknor (Cornell University)
Screen Shots | System Requirements

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 (below) 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, theproportion female, the eggs/female, and the survival to adult. The initial release ratios (sterile:fertile) or the initial release numbers can be set by zone or cell by cell. The release of sterile males in each zone (or cell) can be by numbers of males or by the ratio of sterile males to fertile males. The sterile:fertile ratio can be determined by exact knowledge of the native population or by an estimate of the native population that varies randomly. The relative competitiveness of the released, sterile males to the native, fertile males for mating success can also be varied.

* Knipling, E. F. 1955. Possibilities of insect control or eradication through the use of sexually sterile males. J. Econ. Entomol. 48:459-62.

System Requirements

Windows 3.0

• Any system which supports Microsoft Windows 3.0 or later.
• Math coprocessor is strongly recommended.