For the Criminology study, the team used Lotka–Volterra
equations, which were designed to model the population dynamics
of species competing for common resources. Since the 1930s,
ecologists have used the equations to study the relationships
between competing groups as diverse as bee colonies, troops of
chimpanzees and prides of lions. P. Jeffrey Brantingham A
mathematical model that has been used for more than 80 years to
determine the hunting range of animals in the wild holds promise
for mapping the territories of street gangs, a UCLA-led team of
social scientists reports in a new study. “The way gangs break
up their neighborhoods into unique territories is a lot like the
way lions or honey bees break up space,” said lead author P.
Jeffrey Brantingham, a professor of anthropology at UCLA.
Further, the research demonstrates that the most dangerous place
to be in a neighborhood packed with gangs is not deep within the
territory of a specific gang, as one might suppose, but on the
border between two rival gan