On some free boundary problems of the prey-predator model (Q2441979)

This paper deals with free boundary problems for a system of two parabolic equations. These problems correspond to the Lotka-Volterra type prey-predator model in the one-dimensional case. It is proved that a spreading-vanishing dichotomy takes place. Precisely, the two species (prey and predator) either successfully spread to the entire space as time goes to infinity or both die. The author proves some comparison principles to establish the criteria for spreading and vanishing. The long-time behavior of the solution is also studied. It is shown that the asymptotic spreading speed cannot be faster than the minimal speed of traveling wave fronts corresponding to the prey-predator model on the whole line.