Population dynamics of individuals undergoing birth and death and diffusing by short- or long-range two-dimensional spatial excursions (Gaussian jumps or Lévy flights) is studied. Competitive interactions are considered in a global case, in which birth and death rates are influenced by all individuals in the system, and in a nonlocal but finite-range case in which interaction affects individuals in a neighborhood (we also address the noninteracting case). In the global case one single or few-cluster configurations are achieved with the spatial distribution of the bugs tied to the type of diffusion. In the Lévy case long tails appear for some properties characterizing the shape and dynamics of clusters. Under nonlocal finite-range interactions periodic patterns appear with periodicity set by the interaction range. This length acts as a cutoff limiting the influence of the long Lévy jumps, so that spatial configurations under the two types of diffusion become more similar. By dividing initially everyone into different families and following their descent it is possible to show that mixing of families and their competition is greatly influenced by the spatial dynamics.

• Received 20 July 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.85.041105

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Published by the American Physical Society