Predator-prey models to model users

Predator-prey models are helpful and are often used in environmental science because they allow researchers to both observe the dynamics of animal populations and make predictions as to how they will develop/ change over time.

I have been quiet as we have been unpacking an idea that with a specific data set, we can model user behaviour based on a dynamic competitive market. This Predator-prey method, when applied to understand why users are behaving in a certain way, opens up a lot of questions we don’t have answers to.

As a #CDO, we have to remain curious, and this is curious.

Using the example of the rabbit and the fox. We know that there is a lag between growth in a rabbit population and the increase in a fox population. The lag varies on each cycle, as does the peak and minimum of each animal. We know that there is a lag between minimal rabbits and minimal foxes, as foxes can find other food sources and rabbits die of other causes.

Some key observations.

The cycles, whilst they look similar, are very different because of externalities — and even over many time cycles where we end up with the same starting conditions, we get different outcomes. Starting at any point and using the data from a different cycle creates different results; it is not a perfect science even with the…