Coexistence in stochastic spatial models (Q1024887)

In this special invited paper Rick Durrett reviews twenty years of work on the question: When is there coexistence in stochastic spatial models? The answer, announced in \textit{R. Durrett} and \textit{S. Levin} [Theor. Popul. Biol. 46, No. 3, 363--394 (1994; Zbl 0846.92027)], is that this can be determined by examining the mean-field ODE. A number of rigorous results in support of this picture are stated along with proof sketches. Well selected references to the literature are given, both mathematical papers and motivating papers from biology. The paper is organized according to the properties of the mean-field ODE: (i) A single attracting fixed point, (ii) Two locally attracting fixed points, (iii) Periodic orbits. For each case results, examples, and open problems are stated. In total nine challenging and important open problems are stated, most of which date from the 1990's.