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Global bifurcation of solutions to diffusive logistic equations on bounded domains subject to nonlinear boundary conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

Robert Stephen Cantrell
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA (rsc@math.miami.edu)
Chris Cosner
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA (rsc@math.miami.edu)
Salome Martínez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ingeniería Matemática and Centro de Modelamiento Matemático, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 170, Correo 3, Santiago, Chile

Abstract

We consider the diffusive logistic equation

supplemented by the nonlinear boundary condition

where α is a non-negative, non-decreasing function with α([0, 1]) ⊆ [0, 1]. When regarded as an ecological model for an organism inhabiting a focal patch of its habitat, the assumptions on α are intended to capture a tendency on the part of the organism to remain in the habitat patch when it encounters the patch boundary that increases with species density. Such a mechanism has been suggested in the ecological literature as a means by which the dynamics of the organism at the scale of the patch might differ from its local dynamics within the patch. Building upon earlier examinations of the boundary-value problem by Cantrell and Cosner, we detail in this paper the global disposition of biologically relevant equilibria when both 0 and 1 (the local carrying capacity within the patch) are equilibria. Our analysis relies on global bifurcation theory and estimates for elliptic and parabolic partial differential equations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 2009

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