SFU Mathematics of Computation, Application and Data ("MOCAD") Seminar: Silas Polani

Intraguild predation (IGP) consists of two (or more) consumers of the same shared resource exhibiting a predator-prey relation among themselves, and is a very present phenomena in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecological systems. Theoretical works show that IGP allows for coexistence between two consumers of the same guild, as long as IG prey is a more effective consumer than IG predator, revealing an important mechanism for consumer coexistence in food chains. Here we explore biological invasions forming IGP communities, by either introducing IG prey or IG predator to established (single) Consumer-Resource populations in homogeneous and heterogeneous landscapes. We use reaction-diffusion equations as our modeling framework, and explore them through numerical simulations and homogenization techniques. In homogeneous landscapes, we find that asymptotic spreading speeds are linearly determinate and also that the formation of traveling wave solutions and dynamical stabilization regimes are possible. On heterogeneous landscapes, we find that coexistence regimes in highly heterogeneous landscapes can occur regardless of IG-Prey being the least effective consumer, or be hindered even when IG-Prey remains as the dominant competitor, depending on habitat preferences of each of the species involved. We provide some conclusions of the work and venues of future research.