PIMS/AMI Seminar: Persistence and spread in heterogeneous landscapes

Natural landscapes are often not homogeneous but show spatial variation in environmental conditions. Natural and human disturbances result in additional landscape fragmentation and heterogeneity. In this talk, I will consider (a) conditions under which species can survive in such fragmented landscapes, (b) velocities of species invasion, and (c) effect of heterogeneity on competition between two species. I will consider these questions in discrete-time models formulated as integrodifference equations. I will present various approximation techniques to deal with spatial heterogeneity.