Spatially nonhomogeneous equilibrium in a reaction-diffusion system with distributed delay

We consider a reaction-diffusion system with general time-delayed growth rate and kernel functions. The existence and stability of the positive spatially nonhomogeneous steady-state solution are obtained. Moreover, taking minimal time delay tau as the bifurcation parameter, Hopf bifurcation near the steady-state solution is proved to occur at a critical value tau = tau(0). Especially, the Hopf bifurcation is forward and the bifurcated periodic solutions are stable on the center manifold. The general results are applied to competitive and cooperative systems with weak or strong kernel function respectively. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.