Evolutionary processes in biological invasions

• Grant number: 20/15320-4
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - General Physics
• Principal researcher: Roberto André Kraenkel
• Grantee: Silas Poloni Lyra
• Supervisor abroad: Frithjof Lutscher
• Home Institution: Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University of Ottawa (uOttawa), Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/24037-4 - Reaction-diffusion equations in Population Biology: persistence and Invasibility conditions, BP.DR

Abstract

This project aims to incorporate evolutionary processes that occur throughout invasions into range expansion theory, especially spatial sorting and gene-surfing. Spatial sorting consists of the fact that some individuals may present higher dispersal capacity then others, colonizing some regions of the invaded landscape before its co-specifics do. Gene surfing can be explained as mutations having a higher fixation probability, simply by being at the front of an invasion, when compared to well-mixed populations. The main focus is on the development of integro-difference equations models to study such phenomena. Most of the expected results are to come from analytical techniques and approximations with support from numerical methods. (AU)