Effects of heterogeneity and global dynamics of weakly connected subpopulations

We develop a method that completely characterizes the global dynamics of models with multiple subpopulations that are weakly interconnected. The method is applied on two classes of models with multiple subpopulations: an epidemic model that involves multiple host species and multiple vector species and a patchy vector-borne model. The method consists of two main steps: reducing the system using tools of large scale systems and studying the dynamics of an auxiliary system related the original system. The developed method determines the underlying dynamics and the “weight” of each subpopulations with respect to the dynamics of the whole population, and how the topology of the connectivity matrix alters the dynamics of the overall population. The method provides global stability results for all types of equilibria, namely trivial, boundary or interior equilibria.