Spreading speeds and traveling waves for abstract monostable evolution systems

This paper is devoted to the development of the theory of spreading speeds and traveling waves for abstract monostable evolution systems with spatial structure. Under appropriate assumptions, we show that the spreading speeds coincide with the minimal wave speeds for monotone traveling waves in the positive and negative directions. Then we use this theory to study the spatial dynamics of a parabolic equation in a periodic cylinder with the Dirichlet boundary condition, a reaction–diffusion model with a quiescent stage, a porous medium equation in a tube, and a lattice system in a periodic habitat. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved