A nonlocal and periodic reaction-diffusion-advection model of a single phytoplankton species (Q2634752)

This paper deals with the analysis of a nonautonomous mathematical model for phytoplankton, i.e., microorganisms that perform photosynthesis, in a (one-dimensional) water column \([0,L]\): \[ u_t=Du_{xx}-\alpha u_x+u[g(I(x,t))-d(x,t)], \] where \(D>0\) is the (constant) diffusion coefficient and \(\alpha\) is the (depending on its sign) sinking or buoyancy rate. For the light intensity \(I\), the following Lambert-Beer law is assumed: \[ I(x,t)=I_0(t)\exp\left(-k_0x-k_1\int_0^xu(s,t) ds\right), \] where \(I_0\) is time-periodic. Time-periodicity is also assumed for the death rate \(d\); the response function \(g\) is required to be strictly increasing. This model is an extension of the models studied in [\textit{S.-B. Hsu} and \textit{Y. Lou}, SIAM J. Appl. Math. 70, No. 8, 2942--2974 (2010; Zbl 1210.35265)], [\textit{Y. Du, S.-B. Hsu}, SIAM J. Math. Anal. 42, No. 3, 1305--1333 (2010; Zbl 1211.35261)], and [\textit{Y. Du} and \textit{L. Mei}, Nonlinearity 24, No. 1, 319--349 (2011; Zbl 1223.35063)] and studied from the point of view of exctinction and persistence of the population. To this end, the authors first establish a basic reproduction number \(\mathcal{R}_0\) as the spectral radius of a certain linear operator. The main theorem says that if \(\mathcal{R}_0\leq 1\), the population dies out as \(\lim_{t\to\infty} u(x,t)=0\) uniformly, whereas if \(\mathcal{R}_0>1\), the population persists uniformly and there exists a positive periodic solution. This positive periodic solution is attractive if it is unique (which is not proven here). The remainder of the paper is concerned with a very careful study of the dependency of the reproduction number \(\mathcal{R}_0\) in terms of the model parameters \(D\), \(\alpha\) and \(L\).