Global bifurcation of positive equilibria in nonlinear population models

Existence of nontrivial nonnegative equilibrium solutions for age-structured population models with nonlinear diffusion is investigated. Introducing a parameter measuring the intensity of the fertility, global bifurcation is shown of a branch of positive equilibrium solutions emanating from the trivial equilibrium. Moreover, for the parameter-independent model we establish existence of positive equilibria by means of a fixed point theorem for conical shells.