Wave speed and critical patch size for integro-difference equations with a strong Allee effect

Transient Propagation of the Invasion Front in the Homogeneous Landscape and in the Presence of a Road

Understanding the propagation of invasive plants at the beginning of invasive spread is important as it can help practitioners eradicate harmful species more efficiently. In our work the propagation regime of the invasive plant species is studied at the short-time scale before a travelling wave is established and advances into space at a constant speed. The integro-difference framework has been employed to deal with a stage-structured population, and a short-distance dispersal mode has been considered in the homogeneous environment and when a road presents in the landscape. It is explained in the paper how nonlinear spatio-temporal dynamics arise in a transient regime where the propagation speed depends on the detection threshold population density. Furthermore, we investigate the question of whether the transient dynamics become different when the homogeneous landscape is transformed into the heterogeneous one. It is shown in the paper how invasion slows down in a transient regime in the presence of a road.

Spread and persistence for integro-difference equations with shifting habitat and strong Allee effect

We study an integro-difference equation model that describes the spatial dynamics of a species with a strong Allee effect in a shifting habitat. We examine the case of a shifting semi-infinite bad habitat connected to a semi-infinite good habitat. In this case we rigorously establish species persistence (non-persistence) if the habitat shift speed is less (greater) than the asymptotic spreading speed of the species in the good habitat. We also examine the case of a finite shifting patch of hospitable habitat, and find that the habitat shift speed must be less than the asymptotic spreading speed associated with the habitat and there is a critical patch size for species persistence. Spreading speeds and traveling waves are established to address species persistence. Our numerical simulations demonstrate the theoretical results and show the dependence of the critical patch size on the shift speed.

Forced Traveling Waves in a Reaction-Diffusion Equation with Strong Allee Effect and Shifting Habitat

We study a reaction-diffusion equation that describes the growth of a population with a strong Allee effect in a bounded habitat which shifts at a speed [Formula: see text]. We demonstrate that the existence of forced positive traveling waves depends on habitat size L, and [Formula: see text], the speed of traveling wave for the corresponding reaction-diffusion equation with the same growth function all over the entire unbounded spatial domain. It is shown that for [Formula: see text] there exists a positive number [Formula: see text] such that for [Formula: see text] there are two positive traveling waves and for [Formula: see text] there is no positive traveling wave. It is also shown if [Formula: see text] for any [Formula: see text] there is no positive traveling wave. The dynamics of the equation are further explored through numerical simulations.

Block-pulse integrodifference equations

We present a hybrid method for calculating the equilibrium population-distributions of integrodifference equations (IDEs) with strictly increasing growth, for populations that are confined to a finite habitat-patch. This method is based on approximating the growth function of the IDE with a piecewise-constant function, and we call the resulting model a block-pulse IDE. We explicitly write out analytic expressions for the iterates and equilibria of the block-pulse IDEs as sums of cumulative distribution functions. We characterize the dynamics of one-, two-, and three-step block-pulse IDEs, including formal stability analyses, and we explore the bifurcation structure of these models. These simple models display rich dynamics, with numerous fold bifurcations. We then use three-, five-, and ten-step block-pulse IDEs, with a numerical root finder, to approximate models with compensatory Beverton-Holt growth and depensatory, or Allee-effect, growth. Our method provides a good approximation for the equilibrium distributions for compensatory and depensatory growth and offers numerical and analytical advantages over the original growth models.