Asymptotic spreading speed for the weak competition system with a free boundary

Abstract

This paper is concerned with a diffusive Lotka-Volterra type competition system with a free boundary in one space dimension. Such a system may be used to describe the invasion of a new species into the habitat of a native competitor, and its long-time dynamical behavior can be described by a spreading-vanishing dichotomy. The main purpose of this paper is to determine the asymptotic spreading speed of the invading species when its spreading is successful, which involves two systems of traveling wave type equations.