Finite element approximation of a population spatial adaptation model

Abstract

In [18], Sighesada, Kawasaki and Teramoto presented a system of partial differential equations for modeling spatial segregation of interacting species. Apart from competitive Lotka-Volterra (reaction) and population pressure (cross-diffusion) terms, a convective term modeling the populations attraction to more favorable environmental regions was included. In this article, we study numerically a modification of their convective term to take account for the notion of spatial adaptation of populations. After describing the model, in which a time non-local drift term is considered, we propose a numerical discretization in terms of a mass-preserving time semi-implicit finite element method. Finally, we provied the results of some biologically inspired numerical experiments showing qualitative differences between the original model of [18] and the model proposed in this article.