Existence of traveling waves for the generalized FKPP equation

Abstract: Variation in genotypes may be responsible for differences in dispersal rates, directional biases, and growth rates of individuals. These traits may favor certain genotypes and enhance their spatio-temporal spreading into areas occupied by the less advantageous genotypes. We study how these factors influence the speed of spreading in the case of two competing genotypes and show that under the assumption of maintenance of spatially homogeneous total population the dynamics of the frequency of one of the genotypes is approximately described by the generalized Fisher-Kolmogorov-Petrovskii-Piskunov (FKPP) equation. This generalized FKPP equation with (nonlinear) frequency dependent diffusion and advection terms admits traveling wave solutions (fronts/clines) that characterize the invasion of the dominant genotype. Our existence results generalize the classical theory for traveling waves for the FKPP with constant coefficients. Moreover for the particular case of the quadratic (monostable) nonlinear growth-decay rate in the generalized FKPP we study in details the influence of the variance in diffusion and mean displacement rates of the two genotypes on the minimal wave propagation speed.