Regimes of biological invasion in a predator-prey system with the Allee effect

Spatiotemporal dynamics of a predator-prey system is considered under the assumption that prey growth is damped by the strong Allee effect. Mathematically, the model consists of two coupled diffusion-reaction equations. The initial conditions are described by functions of finite support which corresponds to invasion of exotic species. By means of extensive numerical simulations, we identify the main scenarios of the system dynamics as related to biological invasion. We construct the maps in the parameter space of the system with different domains corresponding to different invasion regimes and show that the impact of the Allee effect essentially increases the system spatiotemporal complexity. In particular, we show that, as a result of the interplay between the Allee effect and predation, successful establishment of exotic species may not necessarily lead to geographical spread and geographical spread does not always enhance regional persistence of invading species. (c) 2004 Society for Mathematical Biology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.