Dynamics of coral reef models in the presence of parrotfish

The decline of coral reefs characterized by macroalgae increase has been a global threat. We consider a slightly modified version of an ordinary differential equation (ODE) model proposed in Blackwood, Hastings, and Mumby [Theor. Ecol. 5 (2012), pp. 105–114] that explicitly considers the role of parrotfish grazing on coral reef dynamics. We perform complete stability, bifurcation, and persistence analysis for this model. If the fishing effort (f) is in between two critical values and , then the system has a unique interior equilibrium, which is stable if and unstable if . If is less (more) than these critical values, then the system has up to two (zero) interior equilibria. Also, we develop a more realistic delay differential equation (DDE) model to incorporate the time delay and treating it as the bifurcation parameter, and we prove that Hopf bifurcation about the interior equilibria could occur at critical time delays, which illustrate the potential importance of the inherent time delay in a coral reef ecosystem. Recommendations for Resource Managers

• One serious threat to coral reefs is overfishing of grazing species, including high level of algal abundance. Fishing alters the entire dynamics of a reef (Hughes, Baird, & Bellwood, 2003), for which the coral cover was predicted to decline rapidly (Mumby, 2006). One major issue is to reverse and develop appropriate management to increase or maintain coral resilience.
• We have provided a detailed local and global analysis of model (Blackwood, Hastings, & Mumby, 2012) and obtained an ecologically meaningful attracting region, for which there is a chance of stable coexistence of coral–algal–fish state.
• The healthy reefs switch to unhealthy state, and the macroalgae–parrotfish state becomes stable as the fishing effort increases through some critical values. Also, for some critical time delays, a switch between healthy and unhealthy reef states occurs through a Hopf bifurcation, which can only appear in the delay differential equation (DDE) model. Eventually, for large enough time delay, oscillations appear and an unhealthy state occurs.

     

Delay independent stability of linear switching systems with time delay

We consider a switching system with time delay composed of a finite number of linear delay differential equations (DDEs). Each DDE consists of a sum of a linear ODE part and a linear DDE part. We study two particular cases: (a) all the ODE parts are stable and (b) all the ODE parts are unstable and determine conditions for delay independent stability. For case (a), we extend a standard result of linear DDEs via the multiple Lyapunov function and functional methods. For case (b) the standard DDE result is not directly applicable, however, we are able to obtain uniform asymptotic stability using the single Lyapunov function and functional methods.     

Dynamics analysis of a delayed viral infection model with immune impairment

In this paper, the dynamical behavior of a delayed viral infection model with immune impairment is studied. It is shown that if the basic reproductive number of the virus is less than one, then the uninfected equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable for both ODE and DDE model. And the effect of time delay on stabilities of the equilibria of the DDE model has been studied. By theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we show that the immune impairment rate has no effect on the stability of the ODE model, while it has a dramatic effect on the infected equilibrium of the DDE model.     

Some results in Floquet theory,with application to periodic epidemic models

In this paper, we present several new results to the classical Floquet theory on the study of differential equations with periodic coefficients. For linear periodic systems, the Floquet exponents can be directly calculated when the coefficient matrices are triangular. Meanwhile, the Floquet exponents are eigenvalues of the integral average of the coefficient matrices when they commute with their antiderivative matrices. For the stability analysis of constant and nontrivial periodic solutions of nonlinear differential equations, we derive a few results based on linearization. We also briefly discuss the properties of Floquet exponents for delay linear periodic systems. To demonstrate the application of these analytical results, we consider a new cholera epidemic model with phage dynamics and seasonality incorporated. We conduct mathematical analysis and numerical simulation to the model with several periodic parameters.     

From ODE to DDE

In this paper, by considering ordinary differential equation (ODE) as a special case and a starting point of delay differential equation (DDE), we will show that some typical topological methods such as continuation theorems can be applied to detect some dynamics of DDE like periodic solutions. Several problems will be presented.      

The dynamics of an age structured predator–prey model with disturbing pulse and time delays

Many of the existing predator–prey models on stage structured populations are some ordinary differential equations (ODE) or models without a disturbing effect of human behavior. In reality, death of the juvenile during its immature stage and catching or poisoning for the prey or predator occur continuously. From this basic standpoint, we formulate a general and robust prey-dependent consumption predator–prey model with periodic harvesting (catching or poisoning) for the prey and stage structure for the predator with constant maturation time delay (through-stage time delay) and perform a systematic mathematical and ecological study. We show that the conditions for global attractivity of the ‘predator-extinction’ (‘predator-eradication’) periodic solution and permanence of the population of the model depend on time delay, so, we call it “profitless”. We also show that constant maturation time delay and impulsive catching or poisoning for the prey can bring great effects on the dynamics of system by numerical analysis. In this paper, the main feature is that we introduce time delay and pulse into the predator–prey (natural enemy–pest) model with age structure, exhibit a new modeling method which is applied to investigate impulsive delay differential equations, and give some reasonable suggestions for pest management.     

Variable-step variable-order 3-stage Hermite-Birkhoff-Obrechkoff DDE solver of order 4 to 14

This article presents a solver for delay differential equations (DDEs) called HBO414DDE based on a hybrid variable-step variable-order 3-stage Hermite-Birkhoff-Obrechkoff ODE solver of order 4 to 14. The current version of our method solves DDEs with state dependent, non-vanishing, small, vanishing and asymptotically vanishing delays, except neutral type and initial value DDEs. Delayed values are computed using Hermite interpolation, small delays are dealt with by extrapolation, and discontinuities are located by a bisection method. HBO414DDE was tested on several problems and results were compared with those of known solvers like SYSDEL and the recent Matlab DDE solver ddesd and statistics show that it gives, most of the time, a smaller relative error than the other solvers for the same number of function evaluations.     

Hopf bifurcation for neutral functional differential equations

In this paper, we extend the computation of the properties of Hopf bifurcation, such as the direction of bifurcation and stability of bifurcating periodic solutions, of DDE introduced by Kazarinoff et al. [N.D. Kazarinoff, P. van den Driessche, Y.H. Wan, Hopf bifurcation and stability of periodic solutions of differential–difference and integro-differential equations, J. Inst. Math. Appl. 21 (1978) 461–477] to a kind of neutral functional differential equation (NFDE). As an example, a neutral delay logistic differential equation is considered, and the explicit formulas for determining the direction of bifurcation and the stability of bifurcating periodic solutions are derived. Finally, some numerical simulations are carried out to support the analytic results.     

On the spectrum of almost periodic solution of second order scalar functional differential equations with piecewise constant argument

We study the spectrum containment of almost periodic solution to neutral delay differential equations with piecewise constant argument (EPCA, for short). We find an important property, which is different from that given by Cartwright for ordinary differential equations (ODE). Some known (periodic solution) results would be expanded. As a corollary, it is shown that EPCA with periodic perturbations possess a quasi-periodic solution and no periodic solution. This new phenomenon is due to the piecewise constant argument and illustrates a crucial difference between ODE and EPCA.     

The onset of positive periodic solutions for a biochemical pest management model

In this paper, the bifurcation of nontrivial periodic solutions for an impulsively perturbed system of ordinary differential equations which models an integrated pest management strategy is studied by means of a fixed point approach. A biological control, consisting in the periodic release of infective pests, and a chemical control, consisting in pesticide spraying, are employed to maintain susceptible pests below an acceptable level. It is assumed that the biological and chemical control act with the same periodicity, but not in the same time. It is then shown that if the constant amount of infective pests released each time reaches a certain threshold value, then the trivial susceptible pest-eradication periodic solution loses its stability, which is transferred to a newly emerging nontrivial periodic solution.     

Stability and Hopf bifurcation for a delayed predator–prey model with disease in the prey

This paper is concerned with a mathematical model dealing with a predator–prey system with disease in the prey. Mathematical analysis of the model regarding stability has been performed. The effect of delay on the above system is studied. By regarding the time delay as the bifurcation parameter, the stability of the positive equilibrium and Hopf bifurcations are investigated. Furthermore, the direction of Hopf bifurcations and the stability of bifurcated periodic solutions are determined by applying the normal form theory and the center manifold reduction for functional differential equations. Finally, to verify our theoretical predictions, some numerical simulations are also included.     

Numerical Computation of Connecting Orbits in Delay Differential Equations

We discuss the numerical computation of homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits in delay differential equations. Such connecting orbits are approximated using projection boundary conditions, which involve the stable and unstable manifolds of a steady state solution. The stable manifold of a steady state solution of a delay differential equation (DDE) is infinite-dimensional, a problem which we circumvent by reformulating the end conditions using a special bilinear form. The resulting boundary value problem is solved using a collocation method. We demonstrate results, showing homoclinic orbits in a model for neural activity and travelling wave solutions to the delayed Hodgkin–Huxley equation. Our numerical tests indicate convergence behaviour that corresponds to known theoretical results for ODEs and periodic boundary value problems for DDEs.     

A parameter study of epitaxial crystal growth

A third order autonomous ordinary differential equation is studied that is derived from a mathematical model of epitaxial crystal growth on misoriented crystal substrates. The solutions of the ODE correspond to the traveling wave solutions of a nonlinear partial differential equation which is related to the Kuramoto–Sivashinsky equation. The fixed points, the periodic solutions, and the heteroclinic orbits of the ODE are analysed, and stability results are given. A variety of nonlinear phenomena are observed, including Gavrilov–Guckenheimer bifurcations, homoclinic bifurcations, and a cascade of period doublings.     

A population model with time-dependent delay

We present analytical and computational results concerning the linear stability and instability of the uniform steady-state solution of a system of reaction-diffusion equations where a parameter in the kinetic terms is periodic in time. Under suitable assumptions the system is equivalent to a scalar equation with a periodically varying delay. Such a varying delay can model the seasonal fluctuations to the regeneration time of a resource. We study the effect such a varying delay can have on the stability of the spatially uniform steady-state. Analytical results reveal that instability can set in if the delays are large, while computational methods of analysing the stability equations reveal the precise shape of the instability boundary. The nonlinear stability of the uniform state is also examined using ladder methods.     

Delay induced Hopf bifurcation in a dual model of Internet congestion control algorithm

This paper focuses on the delay induced Hopf bifurcation in a dual model of Internet congestion control algorithms which can be modeled as a time-delay system described by a one-order delay differential equation (DDE). By choosing communication delay as the bifurcation parameter, we demonstrate that the system loses its stability and a Hopf bifurcation occurs when communication delay passes through a critical value. Moreover, the bifurcating periodic solution of the system is calculated by means of the perturbation method. Discussion of stability of the periodic solutions involves the computation of Floquet exponents by considering the corresponding Poincaré–Lindstedt series expansion. Finally, numerical simulations for verifying the theoretical analysis are provided.     

A nonlinear AIDS epidemic model with screening and time delay

A nonlinear mathematical model to study the effect of time delay in the recruitment of infected persons on the transmission dynamics of HIV/AIDS is proposed and analyzed. In modeling the dynamics, the population is divided into four subclasses: the susceptibles, the HIV positives or infectives that do not know they are infected, the HIV positives that know they are infected and the AIDS patients. Susceptibles are assumed to become infected via sexual contacts with (both types of) infectives. The model is analyzed using stability theory of delay differential equations. Both the disease-free and the endemic equilibria are found and their stability is investigated. It is shown that the introduction of time delay in the model has a destabilizing effect on the system and periodic solutions can arise by Hopf bifurcation. Numerical simulations are also carried out to investigate the influence of key parameters on the spread of the disease, to support the analytical conclusion and to illustrate possible behavioral scenario of the model.     

A Branching Method for Studying Stability of a Solution to a Delay Differential Equation

We study stability of antisymmetric periodic solutions to delay differential equations. We introduce a one-parameter family of periodic solutions to a special system of ordinary differential equations with a variable period. Conditions for stability of an antisymmetric periodic solution to a delay differential equation are stated in terms of this period function.