This volume consists of a selection of papers presented at a 'Symposium on Mathematical Modelling in Biology and Ecology', held at the Conference Centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR),
Pretoria, South Africa on July 5 and 6, 1979. The Symposium was organized by the National Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences of the CSIR, the National Institute of Virology, the University of the Witwaters= rand and
the South African Journal of Science. The primary reason for the symposium was to provide a forum for South African researchers in the fields of Mathematical Biology and Ecology, at which to present or review their most recent
work. It was also hoped that such a symposium would stimulate further research in this field in South Africa and elsewhere. Accordingly a number of South African Scien= tists working on a wide range of problems in Mathematical
Biology and Ecology and three Scientists from North America, were invited to present papers. Although a somewhat wide spectrum of problems was covered by the Symposium, a balance was maintained by ensuring that the papers were
evenly distributed in the three categories: Models of Physiological Pro= cesses; Morphological Models; and Ecological and Population Models.