Asymptotic speed of spread and traveling fronts for a nonlocal reaction-diffusion model with distributed delay

In this paper, a nonlocal reaction-diffusion model with distributed delay is studied. The asymptotic speed of spread is established for this model, and its coincidence with the minimal wave speed for traveling wave fronts is proved. Moreover, the dependence of the asymptotic speed of spread on delay and the nonlocal effect is considered. Our main finding here is that the delay can induce slow asymptotic speed of spread while the nonlocal effect can increase fast asymptotic speed of spread. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.