Optimal location of resources maximizing the total population size in logistic models (Q2286491)

The authors consider a species the population density of which is a solution of the steady diffusive logistic equation in a heterogeneous environment modeled with the help of a spatially nonconstant coefficient denoting a resource distribution. The aim is to maximize the total population size with respect to the resource distribution, considering uniform pointwise bounds and prescribing the total amount of resources. Under the assumption that the diffusion rate of the species is large enough, it is shown that any optimal configuration is an extreme point of the admissible set. This allows the problem to be reformulated as a shape optimization problem, where the unknown domain stands for the location of resources. The authors give a deep analysis in the one-dimensional case, and all optimal configurations are exhibited for large diffusion rates. The authors also provide several numerical simulations in the one-dimensional case. Several interesting open questions are also raised.