Deterministic approximation of a stochastic metapopulation model

Abstract

We analyse the limit behaviour of a stochastic structured metapopulation model as the number of its patches goes to infinity. The sequence of probability measures associated with the random process, whose components are the proportions of patches with different number of individuals, is tight. The limit of every convergent subsequence satisfies an infinite system of ordinary differential equations. The existence and the uniqueness of the solution are shown by semigroup methods, so that the whole random process converges weakly to the solution of the system.