This monograph, first published in 1974, is an attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of the theory of stochastic processes in understanding biologic phenomena at various levels of complexity – from the molecular to the ecologic level. The modeling of biologic systems via stochastic processes allows the incorporation of effects of secondary factors for which a detailed knowledge is missing.
In the first two chapters of the monograph, the authors present the mathematic analysis used in the later chapters. The authors attempted to make the chapters self-contained and to make the book comprehensive, bringing in results derived by different authors using a variety of techniques and notations. In later chapters, where models of various biologic phenomena are discussed, introductory reviews of those phenomena are given for readers with less biologic background.