A model for the spread of an invasive species
by
Seth F. Oppenheimer
Department of Mathematics and Statistics Mississippi State University
Coauthors: Gary N. Ervin Department of Biological Sciences Mississippi State University

We will consider the spread of an invasive plant species. At this time we are considering geographic spread of a wind-dispersed invasive shrub, as influenced by human disturbances that provide open-canopied low competition habitat.

We have developed a preliminary hybrid lattice model operating in two stages. The model divides the domain into spatial nodes, each of which has a carrying capacity and intrinsic growth rate for a continuous logistic growth model for plant population. There is then a seed dispersal stage with each lattice node having a probability of plant establishment depending on seed load. The old population is taken as the initial condition in previously occupied nodes and the established seedling population is taken as the initial condition in formally unoccupied node and the logistic stage is run again.

We will show the results of the numerical implementation of the model or this will be an extremely short talk.

The investigators have been partially supported by the Mississippi Computational Biology Consortium (NSF EPSCoR #EPS-0556308).

Date received: September 30, 2007