Extinction and periodic oscillations in an age-structured population model in a patchy environment

Abstract

We consider an age-structured single-species population model in a patch environment consisting of infinitely many patches. Previous work shows that if the nonlinear birth rate is sufficiently large and the maturation time is small, then the model exhibits the usual transition from the trivial equilibrium to the positive (spatially homogeneous) equilibrium represented by a traveling wavefront. Here we show that (i) if the birth rate is so small that a patch alone cannot sustain a positive equilibrium then the whole population in the patchy environment will become extinct, and (ii) if the birth rate is large enough that each patch can sustain a positive equilibrium and if the maturation time is moderate then the model exhibits nonlinear oscillations characterized by the occurrence of multiple periodic traveling waves.