A strongly coupled predator–prey system with non-monotonic functional response

The predator–prey system with non-monotonic functional response is an interesting field of theoretical study. In this paper we consider a strongly coupled partial differential equation model with a non-monotonic functional response—a Holling type-IV function in a bounded domain with no flux boundary condition. We prove a number of existence and non-existence results concerning non-constant steady states (patterns) of the underlying system. In particular, we demonstrate that cross-diffusion can create patterns when the corresponding model without cross-diffusion fails.     

A diffusive predator-prey model with a protection zone

In this paper we study the effects of a protection zone Ω₀ for the prey on a diffusive predator-prey model with Holling type II response and no-flux boundary condition. We show the existence of a critical patch size described by the principal eigenvalue of the Laplacian operator over Ω₀ with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. If the protection zone is over the critical patch size, i.e., if is less than the prey growth rate, then the dynamics of the model is fundamentally changed from the usual predator-prey dynamics; in such a case, the prey population persists regardless of the growth rate of its predator, and if the predator is strong, then the two populations stabilize at a unique coexistence state. If the protection zone is below the critical patch size, then the dynamics of the model is qualitatively similar to the case without protection zone, but the chances of survival of the prey species increase with the size of the protection zone, as generally expected. Our mathematical approach is based on bifurcation theory, topological degree theory, the comparison principles for elliptic and parabolic equations, and various elliptic estimates.     

Strategy and stationary pattern in a three-species predator-prey model

In this paper, we study a strongly coupled system of partial differential equations which models the dynamics of a two-predator-one-prey ecosystem in which the prey exercises a defense switching mechanism and the predators collaboratively take advantage of the prey's strategy. We demonstrate the emergence of stationary patterns for this system, and show that it is due to the cross diffusion that arises naturally in the model. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first example of stationary patterns in a predator-prey system arising solely from the effect of cross diffusion.     

A diffusive predator-prey model in heterogeneous environment

In this paper, we demonstrate some special behavior of steady-state solutions to a predator-prey model due to the introduction of spatial heterogeneity. We show that positive steady-state solutions with certain prescribed spatial patterns can be obtained when the spatial environment is designed suitably. Moreover, we observe some essential differences of the behavior of our model from that of the classical Lotka-Volterra model that seem to arise only in the heterogeneous case.     

Analysis of diffusive two-competing-prey and one-predator systems with Beddington-Deangelis functional response

In this paper, a diffusive two-competing-prey and one-predator system with Beddington-DeAngelis functional response is considered. The sufficient and necessary conditions for the existence of coexistence states are provided using the fixed point index theory developed. In addition, the stability and uniqueness of coexistence states are investigated. Finally, this paper discusses the sufficient conditions for extinction and permanence of the time-dependent system.     

Versal unfoldings of predator-prey systems with ratio-dependent functional response

In this paper we study the versal unfolding of a predator-prey system with ratio-dependent functional response near a degenerate equilibrium in order to obtain all possible phase portraits for its perturbations. We first construct the unfolding and prove its versality and degeneracy of codimension 2. Then we discuss all its possible bifurcations, including transcritical bifurcation, Hopf bifurcation, and heteroclinic bifurcation, give conditions of parameters for the appearance of closed orbits and heteroclinic loops, and describe the bifurcation curves. Phase portraits for all possible cases are presented.     

Turing patterns of a strongly coupled predator-prey system with diffusion effects

The main purpose of this work is to investigate the effects of cross-diffusion in a strongly coupled predator-prey system. By a linear stability analysis we find the conditions which allow a homogeneous steady state (stable for the kinetics) to become unstable through a Turing mechanism. In particular, it is shown that Turing instability of the reaction-diffusion system can disappear due to the presence of the cross-diffusion, which implies that the cross-diffusion induced stability can be regarded as the cross-stability of the corresponding reaction-diffusion system. Furthermore, we consider the existence and non-existence results concerning non-constant positive steady states (patterns) of the system. We demonstrate that cross-diffusion can create non-constant positive steady-state solutions. These results exhibit interesting and very different roles of the cross-diffusion in the formation and the disappearance of the Turing instability.     

Global stability and Hopf bifurcation of a delayed eco‐epidemiological model with Holling type II functional response

In this paper, a delayed eco‐epidemiological model with Holling type II functional response is investigated. By analyzing corresponding characteristic equations, the local stability of each of the feasible equilibria and the existence of Hopf bifurcations at the disease‐free equilibrium, the susceptible predator‐free equilibrium and the endemic‐coexistence equilibrium are established, respectively. By means of Lyapunov functionals and LaSalle's invariance principle, sufficient conditions are derived for the global stability of the endemic‐coexistence equilibrium, the disease‐free equilibrium, the susceptible predator‐free equilibrium and the predator‐extinction equilibrium of the system, respectively. Numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the theoretical results. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamics of multi-species competition-predator system with impulsive perturbations and Holling type III functional responses

We investigate the dynamics of a class of multi-species predator-prey interaction models with Holling type III functional responses based on systems of nonautonomous differential equations with impulsive perturbations. Sufficient conditions for existence of a positive periodic solution are investigated by using a continuation theorem in coincidence degree theory, which have been extensively applied in studying existence problems in differential equations and difference equations. In addition, sufficient criteria are established for the global stability and the globally exponential stability of the system by using the comparison principle and the Lyapunov method.     

Spatiotemporal dynamics of a predator-prey model incorporating a prey refuge

In this paper, we investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of a ratio-dependent predator-prey model with cross diffusion incorporating proportion of prey refuge. First we get the critical lines of Hopf and Turing bifurcations in a spatial domain by using mathematical theory. More specifically, the exact Turing region is given in a two parameter space. Also we perform a series of numerical simulations. The obtained results reveal that this system has rich dynamics, such as spotted, stripe and labyrinth patterns which show that it is useful to use the predator-prey model to reveal the spatial dynamics in the real world.     

Positive solutions to logistic type equations with harvesting

We use comparison principles, variational arguments and a truncation method to obtain positive solutions to logistic type equations with harvesting both in RN and in a bounded domain Ω⊂RN, with N?3, when the carrying capacity of the environment is not constant. By relaxing the growth assumption on the coefficients of the differential equation we derive a new equation which is easily solved. The solution of this new equation is then used to produce a positive solution of our original problem.     

Multiple periodic solutions of a delayed stage-structured predator–prey model with non-monotone functional responses

A delayed stage-structured predator–prey model with non-monotone functional responses is proposed. It is assumed that immature individuals and mature individuals of the predator are divided by a fixed age, and that immature predators do not have the ability to attack prey. Some new and interesting sufficient conditions are obtained for the global existence of multiple positive periodic solutions of the stage-structured predator–prey model. Our method is based on Mawhin’s coincidence degree and novel estimation techniques for the a priori bounds of unknown solutions to Lx = λNx. An example is given to illustrate the feasibility of our main result.     

Note on “Bifurcation of a predator-prey model with undercrowding effect”

Inexistence and existence of limit cycles in a predator-prey model with undercrowding effect are studied. The number of limit cycles obtained by Zheng Weiwei in 2000 is corrected.     

Effect of cross-diffusion on the stationary problem of a prey-predator model with a protection zone

This paper is concerned with the stationary problem of a prey-predator cross-diffusion system with a protection zone for the prey. We discuss the existence and non-existence of coexistence states of the two species by using the bifurcation theory. As a result, it is shown that the cross-diffusion for the prey has beneficial effects on the survival of the prey when the intrinsic growth rate of the predator is positive. We also study the asymptotic behavior of positive stationary solutions as the cross-diffusion coefficient of the prey tends to infinity.     

Perturbation of Transition Functions and a Feynman-Kac Formula for the Incorporation of Mortality

Markov transition kernels are perturbed by output kernels with a special emphasis on building mortality into structured population models. A Feynman-Kac formula is derived which illustrates the interplay of mortality with a Markov process associated with the unperturbed kernel. partially supported by NSF grants DMS-0314529 and SES-0345945 partially supported by NSF grants DMS-9706787 and DMS-0314529     

Dynamics of a delayed predator-prey model with Allee effect and Holling type II functional response

In this paper, a delayed with Holling type II functional response (Beddington-DeAngelis) and Allee effect predator-prey model is considered. The growth of the prey is affected by the parameter $M$, which defines the Allee effect. In addition, the delay $\tau$ also influences the logistic growth of the prey, which can be interpreted as the maturity time or the gestation period. In the study of the characteristic equation, we observe that the delay $\tau$ also depends on the parameter $M$, which affects the dynamics in the prey population. Considering the delay as a bifurcation parameter, the local asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium is investigated. On the other hand, we find that the system can also suffer a Hopf bifurcation in the positive equilibrium when the delay passes through a sequence of critical values. In particular, we study the direction of the Hopf bifurcation and the stability of the bifurcating periodic solutions, an explicit algorithm is provided applying the normal form theory and center manifold reduction for the functional differential equations. Finally, numerical simulations that support the theoretical analysis are included.     

Effect of a protection zone in the diffusive Leslie predator-prey model

In this paper, we consider the diffusive Leslie predator-prey model with large intrinsic predator growth rate, and investigate the change of behavior of the model when a simple protection zone Ω₀ for the prey is introduced. As in earlier work [Y. Du, J. Shi, A diffusive predator-prey model with a protection zone, J. Differential Equations 229 (2006) 63-91; Y. Du, X. Liang, A diffusive competition model with a protection zone, J. Differential Equations 244 (2008) 61-86] we show the existence of a critical patch size of the protection zone, determined by the first Dirichlet eigenvalue of the Laplacian over Ω₀ and the intrinsic growth rate of the prey, so that there is fundamental change of the dynamical behavior of the model only when Ω₀ is above the critical patch size. However, our research here reveals significant difference of the model's behavior from the predator-prey model studied in [Y. Du, J. Shi, A diffusive predator-prey model with a protection zone, J. Differential Equations 229 (2006) 63-91] with the same kind of protection zone. We show that the asymptotic profile of the population distribution of the Leslie model is governed by a standard boundary blow-up problem, and classical or degenerate logistic equations.     

Non-existence of non-constant positive steady states of two Holling type-II predator-prey systems: Strong interaction case

We prove the non-existence of non-constant positive steady state solutions of two reaction-diffusion predator-prey models with Holling type-II functional response when the interaction between the predator and the prey is strong. The result implies that the global bifurcating branches of steady state solutions are bounded loops.     

Realization of prescribed patterns in the competition model

We demonstrate that for any prescribed set of finitely many disjoint closed subdomains D₁,…,D_m of a given spatial domain Ω in R^N, if d₁,d₂,a₁,a₂,c,d,e are positive continuous functions on Ω and b(x) is identically zero on D?D₁∪?∪D_m and positive in the rest of Ω, then for suitable choices of the parameters λ, μ and all small ε>0, the competition model

     

Qualitative analysis of a stochastic ratio-dependent Holling-Tanner system

This article addresses a stochastic ratio-dependent predator-prey system with Leslie-Gower and Holling type II schemes. Firstly, the existence of the global positive solution is shown by the comparison theorem of stochastic differential equations. Secondly, in the case of persistence, we prove that there exists a ergodic stationary distribution. Finally, numerical simulations for a hypothetical set of parameter values are presented to illustrate the analytical findings.