A model of an age-structured population in a multipatch environment

Abstract

We propose a model of an age-structured population divided into N geographical patches. We distinguish two time scales, at the fast time scale we have the migration dynamics and at the slow time scale the demographic dynamics. The demographic process is described using the classical McKendrick-von Foerster model for each patch, and a simple matrix model including the transfer rates between patches depicts the migration process. Assuming that 0 is a simple strictly dominant eigenvalue for the migration matrix, we transform the model (an e.d.p. problem with N state variables) into a classical McKendrick-von Foerster model (scalar e.d.p. problem) for the global variable: total population density. We prove, under certain assumptions, that the semigroup associated to our problem has the property of positive asynchronous exponential growth and so we compare its asymptotic behaviour to that of the transformed scalar model. This type of study can be included in the so-called aggregation methods, where a large scale dynamical system is approximately described by a reduced system. Aggregation methods have been already developed for systems of ordinary differential equations and for discrete time models. An application of the results to the study of the dynamics of the Sole larvae is also provided.