Target the Source: Optimal Spatiotemporal Resource Allocation for Invasive Species Control

Determining how to cost-effectively allocate resources for managing invasive species is a notoriously difficult problem. Invasive species control problems are always spatiotemporal, but much of the current theory about control strategies is either spatial or temporal. This article uses a deterministic spatiotemporal model of invasive species dynamics and identifies the optimal management strategy across a range of situations. The optimal solution points a principle of targeting the source of the population, which in many cases is the region of the landscape where the invader is most abundant. The analysis presented here is the first capable of solving for optimal strategies for invasive species over large and irregular environments. Thus, it is an important step forward for both the understanding of control strategies and the application to management scenarios