LAUSR

This paper concerns ecological invasion phenomenon of species based on the diffusive Lotka–Volterra competition model. We investigate the spreading speed (or the minimal wave speed of traveling waves) selection to the model and concentrate on the conjecture raised by Roques et al. (J Math Biol 71(2):465–489, 2015). By using an abstract implicit function theorem in a weighted functional space coupled with a perturbation technique, we not only prove this conjecture, but also show that the fast decay behavior of the first species is necessary and sufficient for the nonlinear speed selection of the whole system. This may lead to further significant results on the answer to the original Hosono’s conjecture, a problem that has been outstanding for more than twenty years.