Spreading speed of the periodic Lotka-Volterra competition model (Q828306)

This paper is concerned with the minimal speed (spreading speed) selection mechanism of traveling waves to a periodic diffusive Lotka-Volterra model with monostable nonlinearity. For the Lotka-Volterra competition model with constant coefficients, the minimal speed determinacy of traveling waves has been investigated by \textit{A. Alhasanat} and \textit{C. Ou} [J. Differ. Equations 266, No. 11, 7357--7378 (2019; Zbl 1408.35067)]. The main method is the upper-lower solution technique. Taking into account the influence of seasonal changes, the authors studied a diffusive Lotka-Volterra model with the periodic coefficients. The method of upper and lower solutions pair is also applied to establish the existence of traveling waves and the minimal speed determinacy. Comparing with the model with constant coefficients, it is not easy to find upper (or lower) solutions for both equations simultaneously. By constructing new pairs of upper and lower solutions that are totally different from the classical ones, the authors established new results on both the linear and nonlinear speed selection mechanism. In addition, they showed that the significant nature of the nonlinear selection is to find a lower solution pair with the density of the first species decaying in a faster rate. This provides a practical way to find a bound estimate for the spreading speed as well as when the nonlinear selection is realized.