Hare/lynx dynamics - combining ecological modeling with data using particle filter methods

The hundred years of hare and lynx catchment data from the Hudson Bay Company have been studied by many. Such studies have however concentrated on standard statistical time series modeling, rather than using the differential equations from theoretical ecology, or more realistic stochastic versions of them. Particle filtering methodology might be a way for going this latter way. It offers likelihood-based inference on the actual state of the process at different times, on the model parameters and on the issue of model selection. But it turned out that this came at a hefty price, computationally. I will here talk about ecological modeling, particle filtering and my experience with trying to combine the two