A diffusive predator-prey model with a protection zone

In this paper we study the effects of a protection zone Ω₀ for the prey on a diffusive predator-prey model with Holling type II response and no-flux boundary condition. We show the existence of a critical patch size described by the principal eigenvalue of the Laplacian operator over Ω₀ with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. If the protection zone is over the critical patch size, i.e., if is less than the prey growth rate, then the dynamics of the model is fundamentally changed from the usual predator-prey dynamics; in such a case, the prey population persists regardless of the growth rate of its predator, and if the predator is strong, then the two populations stabilize at a unique coexistence state. If the protection zone is below the critical patch size, then the dynamics of the model is qualitatively similar to the case without protection zone, but the chances of survival of the prey species increase with the size of the protection zone, as generally expected. Our mathematical approach is based on bifurcation theory, topological degree theory, the comparison principles for elliptic and parabolic equations, and various elliptic estimates.     

A diffusive competition model with a protection zone

This paper is concerned with a two species diffusive competition model with a protection zone for the weak competitor. Our mathematical results imply that when the protection zone is above a certain critical patch size determined by the birth rate of the weak competitor, the weak species almost always survives, but it cannot survive when the protection zone is below the critical size and its competitor is strong enough. While this is the main feature of the model, the actual dynamical behavior of the reaction-diffusion system is more complicated. The key to reveal the main feature of the system lies in a detailed analysis of the attracting regions of its steady-state solutions. Our mathematical analysis shows that, compared with the predator-prey model discussed in [Yihong Du, Junping Shi, A diffusive predator-prey model with a protect zone, J. Differential Equations 226 (2006) 63-91], the protection zone has some essentially different effects on the fine dynamics of the competition model.     

A diffusive predator-prey model in heterogeneous environment

In this paper, we demonstrate some special behavior of steady-state solutions to a predator-prey model due to the introduction of spatial heterogeneity. We show that positive steady-state solutions with certain prescribed spatial patterns can be obtained when the spatial environment is designed suitably. Moreover, we observe some essential differences of the behavior of our model from that of the classical Lotka-Volterra model that seem to arise only in the heterogeneous case.     

Front propagation in infinite cylinders. II. The sharp reaction zone limit

This paper applies the variational approach developed in part I of this work [22] to a singular limit of reaction–diffusion–advection equations which arise in combustion modeling. We first establish existence, uniqueness, monotonicity, asymptotic decay, and the associated free boundary problem for special traveling wave solutions which are minimizers of the considered variational problem in the singular limit. We then show that the speed of the minimizers of the approximating problems converges to the speed of the minimizer of the singular limit. Also, after an appropriate translation the minimizers of the approximating problems converge strongly on compacts to the minimizer of the singular limit. In addition, we obtain matching upper and lower bounds for the speed of the minimizers in the singular limit in terms of a certain area-type functional for small curvatures of the free boundary. The conclusions of the analysis are illustrated by a number of numerical examples.     

Qualitative analysis of a predator-prey model with Holling type II functional response incorporating a prey refuge

We study a predator-prey model with Holling type II functional response incorporating a prey refuge under homogeneous Neumann boundary condition. We show the existence and non-existence of non-constant positive steady-state solutions depending on the constant m∈(0,1], which provides a condition for protecting (1−m)u of prey u from predation. Moreover, we investigate the asymptotic behavior of spacially inhomogeneous solutions and the local existence of periodic solutions.     

Effect of cross-diffusion on the stationary problem of a prey-predator model with a protection zone

This paper is concerned with the stationary problem of a prey-predator cross-diffusion system with a protection zone for the prey. We discuss the existence and non-existence of coexistence states of the two species by using the bifurcation theory. As a result, it is shown that the cross-diffusion for the prey has beneficial effects on the survival of the prey when the intrinsic growth rate of the predator is positive. We also study the asymptotic behavior of positive stationary solutions as the cross-diffusion coefficient of the prey tends to infinity.     

Boundary blow-up solutions with a spike layer

We prove that for large λ>0, the boundary blow-up problem

     

Special conformal groups of a Riemannian manifold and Lie point symmetries of the nonlinear Poisson equation

We obtain a complete group classification of the Lie point symmetries of nonlinear Poisson equations on generic (pseudo) Riemannian manifolds M. Using this result we study their Noether symmetries and establish the respective conservation laws. It is shown that the projection of the Lie point symmetries on M are special subgroups of the conformal group of M. In particular, if the scalar curvature of M vanishes, the projection on M of the Lie point symmetry group of the Poisson equation with critical nonlinearity is the conformal group of the manifold. We illustrate our results by applying them to the Thurston geometries.     

Boundary layer and spike layer solutions for a bistable elliptic problem with generalized boundary conditions

We show that for large λ>0, the “generalized” boundary value problem

     

Symmetry breaking in a bounded symmetry domain

In this article, we prove that there are three positive solutions of a semilinear elliptic equation in a bounded symmetric domain _t for large t>0 in which one is axially symmetric and the other two are nonaxially symmetric. Main tools are the Palais-Smale theory.     

Multiple solutions for a class of elliptic equations with jumping nonlinearities

We consider a semilinear elliptic Dirichlet problem with jumping nonlinearity and, using variational methods, we show that the number of solutions tends to infinity as the number of jumped eigenvalues tends to infinity. In order to prove this fact, for every positive integer k we prove that, when a parameter is large enough, there exists a solution which presents k interior peaks. We also describe the asymptotic behaviour and the profile of this solution as the parameter tends to infinity.     

On the stability of the positive steady states for a nonhomogeneous semilinear Cauchy problem

This paper is contributed to the Cauchy problem

     

Nonlinear self-adjointness of a 2D generalized second order evolution equation

We study the nonlinear self-adjointness of a general class of quasilinear 2D second order evolution equations which do not possess variational structure. For this purpose, we use the method of Ibragimov, devised and developed recently. This approach enables one to establish the conservation laws for any differential equation. We first obtain conditions determining the self-adjoint sub-class in the general case. Then, we establish the conservation laws for important particular cases: the Ricci Flow equation, the modified Ricci Flow equation and the nonlinear heat equation.     

A priori bounds for superlinear problems involving the N-Laplacian

In this paper we establish a priori bounds for positive solutions of the equation

     

<Emphasis Type="Bold">C</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Bold">1,</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">α</Emphasis></Superscript> regularity for infinity harmonic functions in two dimensions

We propose a new method for showing C ^{1, α} regularity for solutions of the infinity Laplacian equation and provide full details of the proof in two dimensions. The proof for dimensions n ≥ 3 depends upon some conjectured local gradient estimates for solutions of certain transformed PDE. LCE is supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0500452. OS was supported in part by the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, Berkeley.     

On sign-changing and multiple solutions of the p-Laplacian

In this paper, we construct the pseudo-gradient vector field in , by which we obtain the positive and negative cones of are both invariant sets of the descent flow of the corresponding functional. Then we use differential equations theory in Banach spaces and dynamics theory to study p-Laplacian boundary value problems with “jumping” nonlinearities at zero or infinity, and get new multiple solutions and sign-changing solutions theorems of p-Laplacian.