Travelling Waves in a Nonlocal Reaction-Diffusion Equation as a Model for a Population Structured by a Space Variable and a Phenotypic Trait

Abstract

We consider a nonlocal reaction-diffusion equation as a model for a population structured by a space variable and a phenotypic trait. To sustain the possibility of invasion in the case where an underlying principal eigenvalue is negative, we investigate the existence of travelling wave solutions. We identify a minimal speed c* > 0, and prove the existence of waves when c ≥ c* and the nonexistence when 0 ≤ c < c*.