Reproduction numbers, like the basic reproduction number R _0, play an important role in the analysis and application of dynamic models, including contagion models and ecological population models. One difficulty in deriving these quantities is that they must be computed on a model-by-model basis, since it is typically not practical to obtain a general reproduction number expressions applicable to a family of related models, especially if some are of different dimensions. For example, this is  the case for SIR-type infectious disease models derived using the linear chain trick (LCT). Here we show how  the next generation operator approach for computing reproduction numbers can be used in conjunction with the generalized linear chain trick (GLCT) to find reproduction numbers expressions that apply generally to such families of models of varying dimensions . We further show how the GLCT enables modelers to draw insights from these results by using theory and intuition from continuous time Markov chains (CTMCs) and their absorption time distributions (i.e., the phase-type probability distributions). To do this, we first review the GLCT and other connections between mean-field ODE model assumptions, CTMCs, and phase-type distributions. We then apply this technique to a generalized family of SEIRS models of arbitrary finite dimension, and to a generalized family of  predator-prey (Rosenzweig-MacArthur ) models of arbitrary finite dimension . These results highlight the utility of the GLCT for the derivation and analysis of mean field ODE models, especially when used in conjunction with theory from CTMCs and their associated phase-type distributions.
Reproduction numbers, like the basic reproduction number \mathcal{R _0, play an important role in the analysis and application of dynamic models, including contagion models and ecological population models. One difficulty in deriving these quantities is that they must be computed on a model-by-model basis, since it is typically impractical to obtain general reproduction number expressions applicable to a family of related models, especially if these are of different dimensions. For example, this is typically the case for SIR-type infectious disease models derived using the linear chain trick (LCT). Here we show how to find general reproduction number expressions for such models families (which vary in their number of state variables) using the next generation operator approach in conjunction with the generalized linear chain trick (GLCT) . We further show how the GLCT enables modelers to draw insights from these results by leveraging theory and intuition from continuous time Markov chains (CTMCs) and their absorption time distributions (i.e., phase-type probability distributions). To do this, we first review the GLCT and other connections between mean-field ODE model assumptions, CTMCs, and phase-type distributions. We then apply this technique to find reproduction numbers for two sets of models: a family of generalized SEIRS models of arbitrary finite dimension, and a generalized family of finite dimensional predator-prey (Rosenzweig-MacArthur type) models . These results highlight the utility of the GLCT for the derivation and analysis of mean field ODE models, especially when used in conjunction with theory from CTMCs and their associated phase-type distributions.
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