Dispersal-driven coexistence in a multiple-patch competition model for zebra and quagga mussels

Abstract

Zebra and quagga mussel are among the world's notorious invasive species because of their large and widespread ecological and economic effects. Although these two species have similar life histories and share many ecological traits, they have some significant ecological differences and impacts. Understanding their long-term population dynamics is critical to determining impacts and effective management. To investigate how the population reproduction rates, intraspecific and interspecific competitions, as well as dispersal abilities affect the population persistence and spatial distributions of the two species in a spatially heterogeneous environment, we developed a dynamic model that describes the competitive interactions between zebra and quagga mussels in multiple patches. The dynamic analysis of the model yields some sufficient conditions that lead to population persistence, extirpation, as well as competitive exclusion and coexistence. By the numerical solutions of a two-patch model, we examine how the interplay between the local population dynamics in each patch and the individual dispersal between patches affects the competition outcomes of the two species in a spatially variable system.