The effect of spatial heterogeneity on the extinction transition in stochastic population dynamics

Abstract

Stochastic logistic-type growth on a static heterogeneous substrate is studied both above and below the drift-induced delocalization transition. Using agent-based simulations, the delocalization of the highest eigenfunction of the deterministic operator is connected with the large N limit of the stochastic theory. It is seen that the localization length of the deterministic theory controls the divergence of the spatial correlation length with N at the transition. It is argued that, in the presence of a strong wind, the extinction transition belongs to the directed percolation universality class, as any finite colony made of discrete agents is washed away from a heterogeneity with compact support. Some of the difficulties in the analysis of the extinction transition in the presence of a weak wind, where there is a localized active state, are discussed. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.