Stochastic measure-valued models for populations expanding in a continuum

Abstract

We model spatially expanding populations by means of two spatial Λ-Fleming Viot processes (or SLFVs) with selection: the k-parent SLFV and the ∞-parent SLFV. In order to do so, we fill empty areas with type 0 "ghost" individuals with a strong selective disadvantage against "real" type 1 individuals, quantified by a parameter k. The reproduction of ghost individuals is interpreted as local extinction events due to stochasticity in reproduction. When k → +∞, the limiting process, corresponding to the ∞-parent SLFV, is reminiscent of stochastic growth models from percolation theory, but is associated to tools making it possible to investigate the genetic diversity in a population sample. In this article, we provide a rigorous construction of the ∞-parent SLFV, and show that it corresponds to the limit of the k-parent SLFV when k → +∞. In order to do so, we introduce an alternative construction of the k-parent SLFV which allows us to couple SLFVs with different selection strengths and is of interest in its own right. We exhibit three different characterizations of the ∞-parent SLFV, which are valid in different settings and link together population genetics models and stochastic growth models.