The diffusive logistic equation with a free boundary and sign-changing coefficient (Q2254016)

Understanding the nature of establishment and spreading of invasive species is a central problem in invasion ecology. The authors consider the problem \[ \begin{cases} u_t-du_{xx}=u(m(x)-u), &\quad t>0,\,0<x<h(t), \\ B[u](t,0)=0,\quad u(t,h(t))=0, &\quad t\geq 0, \\ h'(t)=-\mu u_x(t,h(t)), &\quad t\geq 0, \\ h(0)=h_0,u(0,x)=u_0(x), &\quad 0\leq x\leq h_0,\end{cases} \] where \(B[u]=\alpha u-\beta u_x\), \(\alpha,\beta\geq 0\), \(\alpha+\beta=1\). The aim of the paper is to study the dynamics of the model under some weaker assumptions on the heterogeneous environment function \(m(x)\). In Section 2, the global existence, uniqueness, regularity and some estimates of \((u, h)\) are obtained. Section 3 is devoted to sharp criteria for spreading and vanishing. In Section 4, the author studies the long-time behavior of \(u\) for the spreading case. Finally, Section 5 is devoted to estimate the asymptotic spreading speed of the free boundary when spreading occurs.