Establishing a beachhead: A stochastic population model with an Allee effect applied to species invasion

Azmy S. Ackleh, Linda J.S. Allen, Jacoby Carter

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

We formulated a spatially explicit stochastic population model with an Allee effect in order to explore how invasive species may become established. In our model, we varied the degree of migration between local populations and used an Allee effect with variable birth and death rates. Because of the stochastic component, population sizes below the Allee effect threshold may still have a positive probability for successful invasion. The larger the network of populations, the greater the probability of an invasion occurring when initial population sizes are close to or above the Allee threshold. Furthermore, if migration rates are low, one or more than one patch may be successfully invaded, while if migration rates are high all patches are invaded.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)290-300
Number of pages11
JournalTheoretical Population Biology
Volume71
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2007

Keywords

  • Allee effect
  • Invasive species
  • Probability of successful invasion
  • Spatially explicit stochastic model

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