The interplay of migration and population dynamics in a patchy world

Abstract

One of the important issues in spatial ecology is how explicit considerations of space alter the prediction of population models. In this thesis we scrutinized some classical theories associated with the issue via spatial population models derived mechanistically. Incorporation of assumptions concerning the behavioural details of individuals of species living in a patchy habitat naturally gives rise to cross-migration models in which the per-capita rate of migration of one species depends on the density of some other species. To look into the impact of such a cross-migration factor on population dynamics we first studied a specific two-patch predator-prey crossmigration model while focusing on the hypothesis that space reduces predator-prey oscillations. We then investigated some general multi-patch multi-species crossmigration models while concentrating on the well-known theory of Turing Instability. We obtained new insights into these theoretical issues.