We establish spreading properties of the Lotka-Volterra competition-diffusion system. When the initial data vanish on a right half-line, we derive the exact spreading speeds and prove the convergence to homogeneous equilibrium states between successive invasion fronts. Our method is inspired by the geometric optics approach for Fisher-KPP equation due to Freidlin, Evans and Souganidis. Our main result settles an open question raised by Shigesada et al. in 1997, and shows that one of the species spreads to the right with a nonlocally pulled front.
This article is concerned with a system of semilinear parabolic equations with two free boundaries describing the spreading fronts of the invasive species in a mutualistic ecological model. The local existence and uniqueness of a classical solution are obtained and the asymptotic behavior of the free boundary problem is studied. Our results indicate that two free boundaries tend monotonically to finite or infinite at the same time, and the free boundary problem admits a global slow solution with unbounded free boundaries if the inter-specific competitions are strong, while if the inter-specifi…
This is part two of our study on the spreading properties of the Lotka-Volterra competition-diffusion systems with a stable coexistence state. We focus on the case when the initial data are exponential decaying. By establishing a comparison principle for Hamilton-Jacobi equations, we are able to apply the Hamilton-Jacobi approach for Fisher-KPP equation due to Freidlin, Evans and Souganidis. As a result, the exact formulas of spreading speeds and their dependence on initial data are derived. Our results indicate that sometimes the spreading speed of the slower species is nonlocally determined.…
A reaction-diffusion model which is called the field-road model was introduced by Berestycki, Roquejoffre and Rossi [9] to describe biological invasion with fast diffusion on a line. In this paper, we investigate this model in a heterogeneous landscape and establish the existence of the asymptotic spreading speed c * as well as its coincidence with the minimal wave speed of pulsating fronts along the road. We start with a truncated problem with an imposed Dirichlet boundary condition. We prove the existence of spreading speed c * R which coincides with the minimal speed of pulsating fronts for…
We study the asymptotic spreading of Kolmogorov-Petrovsky-Piskunov (KPP) fronts in heterogeneous shifting habitats, with any number of shifting speeds, by further developing the method based on the theory of viscosity solutions of Hamilton-Jacobi equations. Our framework addresses both reaction-diffusion equation and integro-differential equations with a distributed time-delay. The latter leads to a class of limiting equations of Hamilton-Jacobi-type depending on the variable $x/t$ and in which the time and space derivatives are coupled together. We will first establish uniqueness results for …
Spatial heterogeneity and habitat characteristic are shown to determine the asymptotic profile of the solution to a reaction-diffusion model with free boundary, which describes the moving front of the invasive species. A threshold value $R_0^{Fr}(D,t)$ is introduced to determine the spreading and vanishing of the invasive species. We prove that if $R_0^{Fr}(D,t_0)\geq 1$ for some $t_0\geq 0$, the spreading must happen; while if $R_0^{Fr}(D,0)<1$, the spreading is also possible. Our results show that the species in the favorable habitat can establish itself if the diffusion is slow or the occup…
A reaction-diffusion model is investigated to understand infective environments in a man-environment-man epidemic model. The free boundary is introduced to describe the expanding front of an infective environment induced by fecally-orally transmitted disease. The basic reproduction number $R^F_0(t)$ for the free boundary problem is introduced, and the behavior of positive solutions to the reaction-diffusion system is discussed. Sufficient conditions for the bacteria to vanish or spread are given. We show that, if $R_0\leq 1$, the bacteria always vanish, and if $R^F_0(t_0)\geq 1$ for some $t_0\…
We investigate spreading properties of solutions of a large class of two-component reaction-diffusion systems, including prey-predator systems as a special case. By spreading properties we mean the long time behaviour of solution fronts that start from localized (i.e. compactly supported) initial data. Though there are results in the literature on the existence of travelling waves for such systems, very little has been known-at least theoretically-about the spreading phenomena exhibited by solutions with compactly supported initial data. The main difficulty comes from the fact that the compari…
In this paper, we study the influence of the mortality trade-off in a nonlocal reaction-diffusion-mutation equation that we introduce to model the invasion of cane toads in Australia. This model is built off of one that has attracted attention recently, in which the population of toads is structured by a phenotypical trait that governs the spatial diffusion. We are concerned with the case when the diffusivity can take unbounded values and the mortality trade-off depends only on the trait variable. Depending on the rate of increase of the penalization term, we obtain the rate of spreading of th…
This paper deals with a simplified SIS model, which describes the transmission of the disease in time-periodic heterogeneous environment. To understand the impact of spatial heterogeneity of environment and small advection on the persistence and eradication of an infectious disease, the left and right free boundaries are introduced to represent the expanding fronts. The basic reproduction numbers $R_0^D$ and $R_0^F(t)$, which depends on spatial heterogeneity, temporal periodicity and advection, are introduced. A spreading-vanishing dichotomy is established and sufficient conditions for the spr…
In this paper, we study a simplified version of a West Nile virus model discussed by Lewis et al. [28], which was considered as a first approximation for the spatial spread of WNv. The basic reproduction number $R_0$ for the non-spatial epidemic model is defined and a threshold parameter $R_0 ^D$ for the corresponding problem with null Dirichlet boundary condition is introduced. We consider a free boundary problem with coupled system, which describes the diffusion of birds by a PDE and the movement of mosquitoes by a ODE. The risk index $R_0^F (t)$ associated with the disease in spatial settin…
This paper deals with the existence of traveling fronts guided by the medium for a KPP reaction-diffusion equation coming from a model in population dynamics in which there is spatial spreading as well as genetic mutation of a quantitative genetic trait that has a locally preferred value. The goal is to understand spreading and invasions in this heterogeneous context. We prove the existence of a threshold value on the existence of a nonzero asymptotic profile (a stationary limiting solution). When a nonzero asymptotic profile exists, we prove the existence of a traveling front. This allows us …
We determine the asymptotic spreading speed of the solutions of a Fisher-KPP reaction-diffusion equation, starting from compactly supported initial data, when the diffusion coefficient is a fixed bounded monotone profile that is shifted at a given forcing speed and satisfies a general uniform ellipticity condition. Depending on the monotony of the profile, we are able to characterize this spreading speed as a function of the forcing speed and the two linear spreading speeds associated to the asymptotic problems. Most notably, when the profile of the coefficient diffusion is increasing we show …
We study nonlinear diffusion problems of the form $u_t=u_{xx}+f(u)$ with free boundaries. Such problems may be used to describe the spreading of a biological or chemical species, with the free boundary representing the expanding front. For special $f(u)$ of the Fisher-KPP type, the problem was investigated by Du and Lin [8]. Here we consider much more general nonlinear terms. For any $f(u)$ which is $C^1$ and satisfies $f(0)=0$, we show that the omega limit set $ω(u)$ of every bounded positive solution is determined by a stationary solution. For monostable, bistable and combustion types of non…
We consider the equation $u_t=u_{xx}+u_{yy}+b(x)f(u)+g(u)$, $(x,y)\in\mathbb R^2$ with monostable nonliearity, where $b(x)$ is a nonnegative measure on $\mathbb R$ that is periodic in $x.$ In the case where $b(x)$ is a smooth periodic function, there exists a pulsating travelling wave that propagates in the direction $(\cosθ,\sinθ)$ -- with average speed $c$ if and only if $c\geq c^*(θ,b),$ where $c^*(θ,b)$ is a certain positive number depending on $b.$ Moreover, the quantity $w(θ;{b})=\min_{|θ-ϕ|<\fracπ{2}}c^*(ϕ;{b})/\cos(θ-ϕ)$ is called the spreading speed. This theory can be extended by sho…
We study invasion fronts and spreading speeds in two component reaction-diffusion systems. Using a variation of Lin's method, we construct traveling front solutions and show the existence of a bifurcation to locked fronts where both components invade at the same speed. Expansions of the wave speed as a function of the diffusion constant of one species are obtained. The bifurcation can be sub or super-critical depending on whether the locked fronts exist for parameter values above or below the bifurcation value. Interestingly, in the sub-critical case numerical simulations reveal that the sprea…
In this paper, we consider the diffusive competition problem consisting of an invasive species with density $u$ and a native species with density $v$. We assume that $v$ undergoes diffusion and growth in $[0, \infty)$, and $u$ exists initially in $[0, h_0)$, but invades into the environment with spreading front ${x=h(t)}$. To understand the effect of the dispersal rate $d_1$, the initial occupying habitat $h_0$, the initial density $u_{0}(x)$ of invasive species $(u)$, and the parameter $μ$ (the ratio of the invasion speed of the free boundary and the invasive species gradient at the expanding…
This paper aims to explore the temporal-spatial spreading and asymptotic behaviors of West Nile virus by a reaction-advection-diffusion system with free boundaries, especially considering the impact of advection term on the extinction and persistence of West Nile virus. We define the spatial-temporal risk index $R^{F}_{0}(t)$ with the advection rate and the general basic disease reproduction number $R^D_0$ to get the vanishing-spreading dichotomy regimes of West Nile virus. We show that there exists a threshold value $μ^{*}$ of the advection rate, and obtain the threshold results of it. When t…
This short paper concerns a diffusive logistic equation with the heterogeneous environment and a free boundary, which is formulated to study the spread of an invasive species, where the free boundary represents the expanding front. A spreading-vanishing dichotomy is derived, namely the species either successfully spreads to the right-half-space as time $t\to\infty$ and survives (persists) in the new environment, or it fails to establish and will extinct in the long run. The sharp criteria for spreading and vanishing is also obtained. When spreading happens, we estimate the asymptotic spreading…
The current paper is to investigate the numerical approximation of logistic type chemotaxis models in one space dimension with a free boundary. Such a model with a free boundary describes the spreading of a new or invasive species subject to the influence of some chemical substances in an environment with a free boundary representing the spreading front (see Bao and Shen [1], [2]). The main challenges in the numerical studies lie in tracking the moving free boundary and the nonlinear terms from chemical. To overcome them, a front fixing framework coupled with finite difference method is introd…
We investigate a reaction-diffusion-advection equation of the form $u_t-u_{xx}+βu_x=f(u)$ $(t>0,\,0<x<h(t))$ with mixed boundary condition at $x=0$ and a free boundary condition at $x=h(t)$. Such a model may be applied to describe the dynamical process of a new or invasive species adopting a combination of random movement and advection upward or downward along the resource gradient, with the free boundary representing the expanding front. The goal of this paper is to understand the effect of advection environment and no flux across the left boundary on the dynamics of this species. When $|β|<c…
In this paper, we consider the diffusive competition problem with a free boundary and sign-changing intrinsic growth rate in heterogeneous time-periodic environment, consisting of an invasive species with density $u$ and a native species with density $v$. We assume that $v$ undergoes diffusion and growth in $R^{N}$ , and $u$ exists initially in a ball $B_{h_0}(0)$, but invades into the environment with spreading front $\{r = h(t)\}$. The effect of the dispersal rate $d_1$, the initial occupying habitat $h_0$, the initial density $u_0$ of invasive species $u$, and the parameter $μ$ (see (1.3)) …
We consider the Fisher-KPP equation with a non-local interaction term. Hamel and Ryzhik showed that in solutions of this equation, the front location at a large time $t$ is $\sqrt 2 t +o(t)$. We study the asymptotics of the second order term in the front location. If the interaction kernel $ϕ(x)$ decays sufficiently fast as $x\rightarrow \infty$ then this term is given by $-\frac{3}{2\sqrt 2 }\log t +o(\log t)$, which is the same correction as found by Bramson for the local Fisher-KPP equation. However, if $ϕ$ has a heavier tail then the second order term is $-t^{β+o(1)}$, where $β\in (0,1)$ d…
In this paper we investigate a free boundary problem for the diffusive Leslie-Gower prey-predator model with double free boundaries in one space dimension. This system models the expanding of an invasive or new predator species in which the free boundaries represent expanding fronts of the predator species. We first prove the existence, uniqueness and regularity of global solution. Then provide a spreading-vanishing dichotomy, namely the predator species either successfully spreads to infinity as $t\to\infty$ at both fronts and survives in the new environment, or it spreads within a bounded ar…
Predicting the evolution of expanding population is critical to control biological threats such as invasive species and virus explosion. In this paper, we consider a two species chemotaxis system of parabolic-parabolic-elliptic type with Lotka-Volterra type competition terms and a free boundary. Such a model with a free boundary describes the spreading of new or invasive species subject to the influence of some chemical substances in an environment with a free boundary representing the spreading front. We first find conditions on the parameters which guarantee the global existence and boundedn…
We study a class of free boundary systems with nonlocal diffusion, which are natural extensions of the corresponding free boundary problems of reaction diffusion systems. As before the free boundary represents the spreading front of the species, but here the population dispersal is described by "nonlocal diffusion" instead of "local diffusion". We prove that such a nonlocal diffusion problem with free boundary has a unique global solution, and for models with Lotka-Volterra type competition or predator-prey growth terms, we show that a spreading-vanishing dichotomy holds, and obtain criteria f…
We investigate the super-linear spreading in a reaction-diffusion model analogous to the Fisher-KPP equation, but in which the population is heterogeneous with respect to the dispersal ability of individuals, and the saturation factor is non-local with respect to one variable. We prove that the rate of acceleration is slower than the rate of acceleration predicted by the linear problem, that is, without saturation. This hindering phenomenon is the consequence of a subtle interplay between the non-local saturation and the non-trivial dynamics of some particular curves that carry the mass at the…
The current series of three papers is concerned with the asymptotic dynamics in the following chemotaxis model $$\partial_tu=Δu-χ\nabla(u\nabla v)+u(a(x,t)-ub(x,t))\ ,\ 0=Δv-λv+μu \ \ (1)$$where $χ, λ, μ$ are positive constants, $a(x,t)$ and $b(x,t)$ are positive and bounded. In the first of the series, we investigate the persistence and asymptotic spreading. Under some explicit condition on the parameters, we show that (1) has a unique nonnegative time global classical solution $(u(x,t;t_0,u_0),v(x,t;t_0,u_0))$ with $u(x,t_0;t_0,u_0)=u_0(x)$ for every $t_0\in R$ and every $u_0\in C^{b}_{\rm u…
The system under study is a reaction-diffusion equation in a horizontal strip, coupled to a diffusion equation on its upper boundary via an exchange condition of the Robin type. This class of models was introduced by H. Berestycki, L. Rossi and the second author in order to model biological invasions directed by lines of fast diffusion. They proved, in particular, that the speed of invasion was enhanced by a fast diffusion on the line, the spreading velocity being asymptotically proportional to the square root of the fast diffusion coefficient. These results could be reduced, in the logistic c…
In this paper we consider the diffusive competition model consisting of an invasive species with density $u$ and a native species with density $v$, in a radially symmetric setting with free boundary. We assume that $v$ undergoes diffusion and growth in $\R^N$, and $u$ exists initially in a ball $\{r<h(0)\}$, but invades into the environment with spreading front $\{r=h(t)\}$, with $h(t)$ evolving according to the free boundary condition $h'(t)=-μu_r(t, h(t))$, where $μ>0$ is a given constant and $u(t,h(t))=0$. Thus the population range of $u$ is the expanding ball $\{r<h(t)\}$, while that for $…
