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.     

Global existence and blowup of a localized problem with free boundary

This paper is concerned with a double fronts free boundary problem for the heat equation with a localized nonlinear reaction term. The local existence and uniqueness of the solution are given by applying the contraction mapping theorem. Then we present some conditions so that the solution blows up in finite time. Finally, the long-time behavior of the global solution is discussed. We show that the solution is global and fast if the initial data is small and that a global slow solution is possible when the initial data is suitably large.     

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 role of protection zone on species spreading governed by a reaction–diffusion model with strong Allee effect

It is known that a species dies out in the long run for small initial data if its evolution obeys a reaction of bistable nonlinearity. Such a phenomenon, which is termed as the strong Allee effect, is well supported by numerous evidence from ecosystems, mainly due to the environmental pollution as well as unregulated harvesting and hunting. To save an endangered species, in this paper we introduce a protection zone that is governed by a Fisher–KPP nonlinearity, and examine the dynamics of a reaction–diffusion model with strong Allee effect and protection zone. We show the existence of two critical values $0<L_{?}\le L^{?}$, and prove that a vanishing-transition-spreading trichotomy result holds when the length of protection zone is smaller than $L_{?}$; a transition-spreading dichotomy result holds when the length of protection zone is between $L_{?}$ and $L^{?}$; only spreading happens when the length of protection zone is larger than $L^{?}$. This suggests that the protection zone works when its length is larger than the critical value $L_{?}$. Furthermore, we compare two types of protection zone with the same length: a connected one and a separate one, and our results reveal that the former is better for species spreading than the latter.     

Propagation dynamics for a spatially periodic integrodifference competition model

In this paper, we study the propagation dynamics for a class of integrodifference competition models in a periodic habitat. An interesting feature of such a system is that multiple spreading speeds can be observed, which biologically means different species may have different spreading speeds. We show that the model system admits a single spreading speed, and it coincides with the minimal wave speed of the spatially periodic traveling waves. A set of sufficient conditions for linear determinacy of the spreading speed is also given.     

Asymptotic stability for a free boundary problem arising in a tumor model

We consider a tumor model in which all cells are proliferating at a rate μ and their density is proportional to the nutrient concentration. The model consists of a coupled system of an elliptic equation and a parabolic equation, with the tumor boundary as a free boundary. It is known that for an appropriate choice of parameters, there exists a unique spherically symmetric stationary solution with radius RS which is independent of μ. It was recently proved that there is a function μ_∗(RS) such that the spherical stationary solution is linearly stable if μ<μ_∗(RS) and linearly unstable if μ>μ_∗(RS). In this paper we prove that the spherical stationary solution is nonlinearly stable (or, asymptotically stable) if μ<μ_∗(RS).     

Asymptotic behavior of solutions to a nonlinear Stefan problem with different moving parameters

This paper deals with a nonlinear diffusion equation with double free boundaries possessing different moving parameters. We present the spreading–vanishing dichotomy and threshold between spreading and vanishing. Moreover, when spreading happens, using the zero number argument we provide sharp estimates of spreading speeds of expanding fronts, and describe how the solution approaches the semi-wave.     

Well-posedness for a model of prion proliferation dynamics

The model considered consists of an ordinary differential equation coupled with an integro-partial differential equation and describes the interaction between non-infectious and infectious prion proteins. We provide sufficient conditions for uniqueness of monomer-preserving weak solutions. In addition, we also prove existence of weak solutions under rather general assumptions on the involved degradation rates.     

Loops and branches of coexistence states in a Lotka-Volterra competition model

A two-species Lotka-Volterra competition-diffusion model with spatially inhomogeneous reaction terms is investigated. The two species are assumed to be identical except for their interspecific competition coefficients. Viewing their common diffusion rate μ as a parameter, we describe the bifurcation diagram of the steady states, including stability, in terms of two real functions of μ. We also show that the bifurcation diagram can be rather complicated. Namely, given any two positive integers l and b, the interspecific competition coefficients can be chosen such that there exist at least l bifurcating branches of positive stable steady states which connect two semi-trivial steady states of the same type (they vanish at the same component), and at least b other bifurcating branches of positive stable steady states that connect semi-trivial steady states of different types.     

Application of variational inequalities to the moving-boundary problem in a fluid model for biofilm growth

We consider a moving-boundary problem associated with the fluid model for biofilm growth proposed by J. Dockery and I. Klapper, Finger formation in biofilm layers, SIAM J. Appl. Math. 62 (3) (2001) 853–869. Notions of classical, weak, and variational solutions for this problem are introduced. Classical solutions with radial symmetry are constructed, and estimates for their growth given. Using a weighted Baiocchi transform, the problem is reformulated as a family of variational inequalities, allowing us to show that, for any initial biofilm configuration at time t=0$t=0$ (any bounded open set), there exists a unique weak solution defined for all t≥0$t\ge 0$.     

On the curvature of free boundaries with a Bernoulli-type condition

In this paper we study the classical external Bernoulli problem set in an annular domain Ω$\Omega$ of the plane.     

Pulsating fronts and front-like entire solutions for a reaction–advection–diffusion competition model in a periodic habitat

This paper is devoted to the study of pulsating fronts and pulsating front-like entire solutions for a reaction–advection–diffusion model of two competing species in a periodic habitat. Under certain assumptions, the competition system admits a leftward and a rightward pulsating fronts in the bistable case. In this work we construct some other types of entire solutions by interacting the leftward and rightward pulsating fronts. Some of these entire solutions behave as the two pulsating fronts approaching each other from both sides of the x-axis, which turn out to be unique and Liapunov stable 2-dimensional manifolds of solutions, furthermore, the leftward and rightward pulsating fronts are on the boundary of these 2-dimensional manifolds. The others behave as the two pulsating fronts propagating from one side of the x-axis, the faster one then invades the slower one as $t\to +\infty$. These kinds of pulsating front-like entire solutions then provide some new spreading ways other than pulsating fronts for two strongly competing species interacting in a heterogeneous habitat.     

Monotonicity and uniqueness of traveling waves for a reaction-diffusion model with a quiescent stage

This paper is concerned with the monotonicity and uniqueness of traveling waves for a reaction-diffusion model with quiescent stage. We first obtain the exponential decay rate of wave profiles, and then we show that any profile is strictly monotone by using the strong comparison principle. Furthermore, we prove the uniqueness (up to translation) of all traveling waves including even the waves with minimal speed.     

Permanence of a delayed SIR epidemic model with density dependent birth rate

In this paper, we consider the permanence of a modified delayed SIR epidemic model with density dependent birth rate which is proposed in [M. Song, W. Ma, Asymptotic properties of a revised SIR epidemic model with density dependent birth rate and time delay, Dynamic of Continuous, Discrete and Impulsive Systems, 13 (2006) 199–208]. It is shown that global dynamic property of the modified delayed SIR epidemic model is very similar as that of the model in [W. Ma, Y. Takeuchi, T. Hara, E. Beretta, Permanence of an SIR epidemic model with distributed time delays, Tohoku Math. J. 54 (2002) 581–591; W. Ma, M. Song, Y. Takeuchi, Global stability of an SIR epidemic model with time delay, Appl. Math. Lett. 17 (2004) 1141–1145].     

Asymptotic behaviour of a phase-field model with three coupled equations without uniqueness

We prove the existence of weak solutions for a phase-field model with three coupled equations with unknown uniqueness, and state several dynamical systems depending on the regularity of the initial data. Then, the existence of families of global attractors (level-set depending) for the corresponding multi-valued semiflows is established, applying an energy method. Finally, using the regularizing effect of the problem, we prove that these attractors are in fact the same.     

A time-periodic reaction–diffusion–advection equation with a free boundary and sign-changing coefficients

We consider a reaction–diffusion–advection equation of the form: $u_t=u_{xx}-\beta \left(t\right)u_x+f(t,u)$ for $x\in [0,h\left(t\right))$, where $\beta \left(t\right)$ is a $T$-periodic function, $f(t,u)$ is a $T$-periodic Fisher–KPP type of nonlinearity with $a\left(t\right)≔f_u(t,0)$ changing sign, $h\left(t\right)$ is a free boundary satisfying the Stefan condition. We study the long time behavior of solutions and find that there are two critical numbers $\bar{c}$ and $B\left(\tilde{\beta }\right)$ with $B\left(\tilde{\beta }\right)>\bar{c}>0$, $\bar{\beta }≔\frac{1}{T}{\int }_0^T\beta \left(t\right)dt$ and $\tilde{\beta }\left(t\right)≔\beta \left(t\right)-\bar{\beta }$, such that a vanishing–spreading dichotomy result holds when $\left|\bar{\beta }\right|<\bar{c}$; a vanishing–transition–virtual spreading trichotomy result holds when $\bar{\beta }\in [\bar{c},B\left(\tilde{\beta }\right))$; all solutions vanish when $\bar{\beta }⩾B\left(\tilde{\beta }\right)$ or $\bar{\beta }⩽-\bar{c}$.     

Asymptotic behavior of spreading fronts in the anisotropic Allen–Cahn equation on Rn

We consider the Cauchy problem for the anisotropic (unbalanced) Allen–Cahn equation on ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ with $n\ge 2$ and study the large time behavior of the solutions with spreading fronts. We show, under very mild assumptions on the initial data, that the solution develops a well-formed front whose position is closely approximated by the expanding Wulff shape for all large times. Such behavior can naturally be expected on a formal level and there are also some rigorous studies in the literature on related problems, but we will establish approximation results that are more refined than what has been known before. More precisely, the Hausdorff distance between the level set of the solution and the expanding Wulff shape remains uniformly bounded for all large times. Furthermore, each level set becomes a smooth hypersurface in finite time no matter how irregular the initial configuration may be, and the motion of this hypersurface is approximately subject to the anisotropic mean curvature flow $V_{\gamma }={\kappa }_{\gamma }+c$ with a small error margin. We also prove the eventual rigidity of the solution profile at the front, meaning that it converges locally to the traveling wave profile everywhere near the front as time goes to infinity. In proving this last result as well as the smoothness of the level surfaces, an anisotropic extension of the Liouville type theorem of Berestycki and Hamel (2007) for entire solutions of the Allen–Cahn equation plays a key role.