Modeling the spatio-temporal dynamics of a population with age structure and long-range interactions: synchronization and clustering

The paper proposed a mathematical model for spatio-temporal dynamics of two-age populations coupled by migration living on a two-dimensional areal. The model equation is a system of nonlocal coupled two-dimensional maps. We considered cases when populations are coupled in a certain neighborhood of different form: circle, square or rhombus. Special attention is paid to the situation when the intensity of the migrants flow between the territories decreases with increasing distance between them. For this model we study the conditions for the formation of groups of synchronous populations or clusters that form, in space, typical structures like spots or stripes mixed with solitary states. It is shown that the dynamics, in time, of different clusters may differ significantly and may not be coherent and correspond to several simultaneous multistable regimes or potential states of the local population. Such spatio-temporal regimes are forced and are caused by impacts or perturbations on a single or several populations when their number falls into the attraction basin of another regime. With strong coupling, such clusters are rare and are represented by single outbursts or solitary states. However, the decrease in the coupling strength leads to the fact that these outbursts cause oscillations of their neighbors, and in their neighborhood a cluster of solitary states is formed which is surrounded by subpopulations with a different type of dynamics. It was found that the interaction of different type of clusters leads to the formation of a large number of groups with transitional dynamics that were not described for local populations.