On some free boundary problems of the prey–predator model

In this paper we investigate some free boundary problems for the Lotka–Volterra type prey–predator model in one space dimension. The main objective is to understand the asymptotic behavior of the two species (prey and predator) spreading via a free boundary. We prove a spreading–vanishing dichotomy, namely the two species either successfully spread to the entire space as time t goes to infinity and survive in the new environment, or they fail to establish and die out in the long run. The long time behavior of solution and criteria for spreading and vanishing are also obtained. Finally, when spreading successfully, we provide an estimate to show that the spreading speed (if exists) cannot be faster than the minimal speed of traveling wavefront solutions for the prey–predator model on the whole real line without a free boundary.     

A diffusive Lotka–Volterra model with Robin boundary condition and sign-changing growth rates in time-periodic environment

In this paper, a Lotka–Volterra model with Robin and free boundary conditions is considered in the heterogeneous time-periodic environment. We mainly consider the changes of local growth rates of native and invasive species that might be negative in some large regions. We study the spreading–vanishing dichotomy. When vanishing occurs, a native species cannot spread successfully as time goes to infinity. However, for an invasive species, in the long run, either it will go extinct or converge to the unique positive solution of time-periodic boundary value problem of logistic equation. When spreading occurs, both native and invasive species have upper and lower bounds. We also obtain the criteria for spreading and vanishing, and estimate of the asymptotic spreading speed.     

Dynamics for a diffusive prey–predator model with different free boundaries

To understand the spreading and interaction of prey and predator, in this paper we study the dynamics of the diffusive Lotka–Volterra type prey–predator model with different free boundaries. These two free boundaries, which may intersect each other as time evolves, are used to describe the spreading of prey and predator. We investigate the existence and uniqueness, regularity and uniform estimates, and long time behaviors of global solution. Some sufficient conditions for spreading and vanishing are established. When spreading occurs, we provide the more accurate limits of $(u,v)$ as $t\to \infty$, and give some estimates of asymptotic spreading speeds of $u,v$ and asymptotic speeds of $g,h$. Some realistic and significant spreading phenomena are found.     

The time-periodic diffusive competition models with a free boundary and sign-changing growth rates

To understand the spreading of invasive and native species, in this paper we consider the diffusive competition models with a free boundary in the heterogeneous time-periodic environments, in which the variable intrinsic growth rates of these two species change signs and may be very negative in some large regions. We study the spreading–vanishing dichotomy, long-time dynamical behavior of solution, sharp criteria for spreading and vanishing, and estimates of the asymptotic spreading speed of the free boundary. Moreover, we establish the existence of positive solutions to a T-periodic boundary value problem of the diffusive competition system with sign-changing growth rates in the half line.     

On a reaction–advection–diffusion equation with Robin and free boundary conditions

ABSTRACT

A reaction–advection–diffusion equation with variable intrinsic growth rate, Robin and free boundary conditions is investigated in this paper. Firstly, we present a spreading–vanishing dichotomy for the asymptotic behavior of the solutions of the equation. Then, we obtain criteria for spreading and vanishing, and get an estimate for the asymptotic spreading speed of the spreading front. Moreover, numerical simulation is also given to illustrate the impact of the expansion capacity on the free boundary.     

Asymptotic spreading of a diffusive competition model with different free boundaries

Recently, the authors of [22] studied a diffusive prey–predator model with two different free boundaries. They first obtained the existence, uniqueness, regularity, uniform estimates and long time behaviors of global solution, and then established the conditions for spreading and vanishing. Especially, when spreading occurs, they provided accurate limits of two species as $t\to +\infty$, and gave some estimates of asymptotic spreading speeds of two species and asymptotic speeds of two free boundaries. Motivated by the paper [22], in this paper we discuss the diffusive competition model with two different free boundaries, which had been investigated by [7], [11], [15], [21]. The main purpose of this paper is to establish much sharper estimates of asymptotic spreading speeds of two species and asymptotic speeds of two free boundaries when spreading occurs. Furthermore, how the solution approaches the semi-wave when spreading happens is also described.     

The diffusive logistic model with a free boundary in heterogeneous environment

In this paper, we study the population dynamics of an invasive species in heterogeneous environment which is modeled by a diffusive logistic equation with free boundary condition. To understand the effect of the dispersal rate D and the parameter μ (the ratio of the expansion speed of the free boundary and the population gradient at the expanding front) on the dynamics of this model, we divide the heterogeneous environment into two cases: strong heterogeneous environment and weak heterogeneous environment. By choosing D and μ as variable parameters, we derive sufficient conditions for species spreading (resp. vanishing) in the strong heterogeneous environment; while in the weak heterogeneous environment, we obtain sharp criteria for the spreading and vanishing. Moreover, when spreading happens, we give an estimate for the asymptotic spreading speed of the free boundary. These theoretical results may have important implications for prediction and prevention of biological invasions.     

A dengue fever model with free boundary incorporating the time-periodicity and spatial-heterogeneity

Propagation of dengue fever is characterized by periodicity and seasonality and further influenced by geographic heterogeneity. To account for these characteristics, we formulate a dengue model in a spatial-heterogeneous and time-periodic environment. Moreover, the free boundary is additionally incorporated into our model to reflect the boundary change of region where dengue virus spreads. Employing the properties of the contagion risk threshold, that is the spatial-temporal basic reproduction ratio, we derive some sufficient conditions regarding the vanishing and spreading of virus. Importantly, the long-time asymptotic behavior of solution is studied in depth when spreading happens. Our findings manifest that as time goes on, dengue virus will behave periodically when spreading. Finally, these phenomena are numerically simulated and epidemiologically explained.     

Spatial‐temporal basic reproduction number and dynamics for a dengue disease diffusion model

A reaction‐diffusion system with free boundary is proposed to describe the transmission of the dengue disease from mosquitoes to humans. In addition to the classical basic reproduction number R₀, the spatial‐temporal basic reproduction number is introduced to determine the persistence and eradication of the disease. Some sufficient conditions for the disease vanishing or spreading are obtained. The disease will go extinct under one of the conditions: the classical basic reproduction number R₀ < 1 and the spatial‐temporal basic reproduction number with small expanding capability. The spread of the disease in the whole area is possible if for some t≥0. Numerical simulations are also given to illustrate the theoretical results.     

Invasion by an inferior or superior competitor: A diffusive competition model with a free boundary in a heterogeneous environment

In this study, we consider the population dynamics of an invasive species and a resident species, which are modeled as a diffusive competition process in a radially symmetric setting with a free boundary. We assume that the resident species undergoes diffusion and growth in Rⁿ${\mathbb{R}}^n$, while the invasive species initially exists in a finite ball, but invades the environment with a spreading front evolving according to a free boundary. When the invasive species is inferior, we show that if the resident species is already well established initially, then the invader can never invade deep into the underlying habitat, thus it dies out before its invading front reaches a certain finite limiting position. When the invasive species is superior, a spreading–vanishing dichotomy holds, and sharp criteria for spreading and vanishing with _d1$d_1$, μ  , and _u0$u_0$ as variable factors are obtained, where _d1$d_1$, μ  , and _u0$u_0$ are the dispersal rate, expansion capacity, and initial number of invaders, respectively. In particular, we obtain some rough estimates of the asymptotic spreading speed when spreading occurs.     

Analysis of a nonautonomous eco‐epidemic diffusive model with disease in the prey

This paper deals with the behavior of positive solutions to a nonautonomous reaction‐diffusion system with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions, which describes a two‐species predator‐prey system in which there is an infectious disease in prey. The sufficient condition on the permanence of the prey and the predator is established by combining the comparison principle with the results related to the corresponding ODE system. Some sufficient conditions for the spreading and vanishing of the disease are obtained. The global attractivity is also discussed by constructing a Lyapunov functional. Our results show that the disease is spreading if the transmission rate is suitably large, while if the transmission rate is small, the disease must be vanishing.     

A free boundary problem for Aedes aegypti mosquito invasion

An advection–reaction–diffusion model with free boundary is proposed to investigate the invasive process of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. By analyzing the free boundary problem, we show that there are two main scenarios of invasive regime: vanishing regime or spreading regime, depending on a threshold in terms of model parameters. Once the mortality rate of the mosquito becomes large with a small specific rate of maturation, the invasive mosquito will go extinct. By introducing the definition of asymptotic spreading speed to describe the spreading front, we provide an estimate to show that the boundary moving speed cannot be faster than the minimal traveling wave speed. By numerical simulations, we consider that the mosquitoes invasive ability and wind driven advection effect on the boundary moving speed. The greater the mosquito invasive ability or advection, the larger the boundary moving speed. Our results indicate that the mosquitoes asymptotic spreading speed can be controlled by modulating the invasive ability of winged mosquitoes.     

Dynamics for a nonlocal competition system with a free boundary

In this paper, we investigate a nonlocal reaction–diffusion competition model with a free boundary and discuss the long time behavior of species. The main objective is to understand the effect of the nonlocal term in the form of an integral convolution on the dynamics of competing species. Specially, for the weak competition case, when spreading occurs, we provide some sufficient conditions to prove that two competing species stabilize at a positive constant equilibrium state. Furthermore, for the case of successful spreading, we estimate the asymptotic spreading speed of the free boundary.     

Traveling waves for a periodic Lotka–Volterra predator–prey system

This paper is concerned with the time periodic traveling wave solutions for a periodic Lotka–Volterra predator–prey system, which formulates that both species synchronously invade a new habitat. We first establish the existence of periodic traveling wave solutions by combining the upper and lower solutions with contracting mapping principle and Schauder’s fixed point theorem. The asymptotic behavior of nontrivial solution is given precisely by the stability of the corresponding kinetic system that has been widely investigated. Then, the nonexistence of periodic traveling wave solutions is confirmed by applying the theory of asymptotic spreading. We show the conclusion for all positive wave speed and obtain the minimal wave speed.     

Spreading–vanishing dichotomy in a diffusive logistic model with a free boundary, II

We study the diffusive logistic equation with a free boundary in higher space dimensions and heterogeneous environment. Such a model may be used to describe the spreading of a new or invasive species, with the free boundary representing the expanding front. For simplicity, we assume that the environment and the solution are radially symmetric. In the special case of one space dimension and homogeneous environment, this free boundary problem was investigated in Du and Lin (2010) [10]. We prove that the spreading-vanishing dichotomy established in Du and Lin (2010) [10] still holds in the more general and ecologically realistic setting considered here. Moreover, when spreading occurs, we obtain best possible upper and lower bounds for the spreading speed of the expanding front. When the environment is asymptotically homogeneous at infinity, these two bounds coincide. Our results indicate that the asymptotic spreading speed determined by this model does not depend on the spatial dimension.     

The Stefan problem for the Fisher–KPP equation

We study the Fisher–KPP equation with a free boundary governed by a one-phase Stefan condition. Such a problem arises in the modeling of the propagation of a new or invasive species, with the free boundary representing the propagation front. In one space dimension this problem was investigated in Du and Lin (2010) [11], and the radially symmetric case in higher space dimensions was studied in Du and Guo (2011) [10]. In both cases a spreading-vanishing dichotomy was established, namely the species either successfully spreads to all the new environment and stabilizes at a positive equilibrium state, or fails to establish and dies out in the long run; moreover, in the case of spreading, the asymptotic spreading speed was determined. In this paper, we consider the non-radially symmetric case. In such a situation, similar to the classical Stefan problem, smooth solutions need not exist even if the initial data are smooth. We thus introduce and study the “weak solution” for a class of free boundary problems that include the Fisher–KPP as a special case. We establish the existence and uniqueness of the weak solution, and through suitable comparison arguments, we extend some of the results obtained earlier in Du and Lin (2010) [11] and Du and Guo (2011) [10] to this general case. We also show that the classical Aronson–Weinberger result on the spreading speed obtained through the traveling wave solution approach is a limiting case of our free boundary problem here.     

Droplet spreading: Intermediate scaling law by PDE methods

We consider the spreading of a thin droplet of viscous liquid on a plane surface driven by capillarity. The standard lubrication approximation leads to an evolution equation for the film height h that is ill‐posed when the spreading is limited by the no‐slip boundary condition at the liquid‐solid interface due to a singularity at the moving contact line. The most common relaxation of the no‐slip boundary condition removes this singularity but introduces a new physical length scale: the slippage length b. It is believed that this microscopic‐length scale only enters logarithmically in the effective (that is, macroscopic) spreading behavior. In this paper, we rigorously show that the naively expected spreading rate is indeed only altered by a logarithmic term involving b. More precisely, we prove a scaling law for the diameter of the apparent (that is, macroscopic) support of the droplet in time. This is an intermediate scaling law: It takes an initial layer to “forget” the initial droplet shape, whereas after a long time, the droplet is so thin that its spreading is governed by the physics on the scale b. Our proof works by deriving suitable estimates for physically relevant integral quantities: the free energy, the length of the apparent support, and their respective rates of change. As opposed to matched asymptotic methods, this PDE approach closely mimics a simple heuristic argument based on the gradient flow structure. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The spreading frontiers of avian-human influenza described by the free boundary

In this paper,a reaction-diffusion system is proposed to investigate avian-human influenza.Two free boundaries are introduced to describe the spreading frontiers of the avian influenza.The basic reproduction numbers rF0(t)and RF0(t)are defined for the bird with the avian influenza and for the human with the mutant avian influenza of the free boundary problem,respectively.Properties of these two time-dependent basic reproduction numbers are obtained.Sufficient conditions both for spreading and for vanishing of the avian influenza are given.It is shown that if rF0(0)<1 and the initial number of the infected birds is small,the avian influenza vanishes in the bird world.Furthermore,if rF0(0)<1 and RF0(0)<1,the avian influenza vanishes in the bird and human worlds.In the case that rF0(0)<1 and RF0(0)>1,spreading of the mutant avian influenza in the human world is possible.It is also shown that if rF0(t0)>1 for any t0>0,the avian influenza spreads in the bird world.