Stability and instability of equilibria of an equation of size structured population dynamics

In this paper we consider a quasilinear equation with a nonlinear boundary condition modelling the dynamics of a biological population structured by size. We suppose vital rates depending on the total population. This hypothesis introduces some nonlinearities on the equation and on the boundary condition. We study the existence and uniqueness of solution of the initial value problem and the existence of stationary solutions. After we calculate the spectrum of the linearization at an equilibrium and we study its (local) stability. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.