A new coexistence result for competing contact processes

Abstract

Neuhauser [Probab. Theory Related Fields 91 (1992) 467–506] considered the two-type contact process and showed that on ℤ² coexistence is not possible if the death rates are equal and the particles use the same dispersal neighborhood. Here, we show that it is possible for a species with a long-, but finite, range dispersal kernel to coexist with a superior competitor with nearest-neighbor dispersal in a model that includes deaths of blocks due to “forest fires.”