A moving-mesh finite-difference method for segregated two-phase competition-diffusion

Abstract

A moving-mesh finite-difference solution of a Lotka-Volterra competition-diffusion model of theoretical ecology is described in which the competition is sufficiently strong to spatially segregate the two populations, leading to a two-phase problem with a coupling condition at the moving interface. A moving mesh approach preserves the identities of the two species in space and time, so that the parameters always refer to the correct population. The model is implemented numerically with a variety of parameter combinations, illustrating how the populations may evolve in time.