Migratory effect of middle predator in a tri‐trophic food chain model

A tri‐trophic food chain model in a two‐patch environment is considered. Although tri‐trophic food chain model is well studied, the study considering migration of middle predator is lacking. To the best of our knowledge, the present investigation is the first study in this direction. Both prey and predator density‐dependent migrations are considered to observe the effects on stability and persistence of the system. We observe that migration of middle predator has the ability to control chaos in tri‐trophic food chain model. Our results indicate that the chance of predator extinction enhances for prey density‐dependent middle predator migration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of a Lotka–Volterra food chain chemostat with converting time delays

A model of the food chain chemostat involving predator, prey and growth-limiting nutrients is considered. The model incorporates two discrete time delays in order to describe the time involved in converting processes. The Lotka–Volterra type increasing functions are used to describe the species uptakes. In addition to showing that solutions with positive initial conditions are positive and bounded, we establish sufficient conditions for the (i) local stability and instability of the positive equilibrium and (ii) global stability of the non-negative equilibria. Numerical simulation suggests that the delays have both destabilizing and stabilizing effects, and the system can produce stable periodic solutions, quasi-periodic solutions and strange attractors.     

A two-patch prey-predator model with food-gathering activity

In insect ecosystem, the dynamics of prey and predator is regulated by complex interactions between them. Insect pests are spatially aggregated in patches forming a spatial pattern in the environment. An efficient predator dynamically changes its strategies and time for its random search movements to concentrate on higher resource patches based on the benefit of assessment. This food-gathering activity of both prey and predator plays a major role in stabilizing the system by influencing the per unit food consumption. Extending Holling time-budget argument by migration, here we formulate a two patch prey-predator model and show that how several foraging parameters such as handling time, dispersal rate can have important consequences in stability of prey-predator system. Specifically, the ratio between timings that a predator remains mobile in searching and handling their food, is the most important one and simulation on this suggests that the stabilizing effect continues to operate when the dispersal process is modeled more realistically. Thus we conclude that the migration submodel is an important constituent of a spatial predator-prey system. These results are shown to have important implications for possible biological control.     

Conjugate coupling in ecosystems: Cross-predation stabilizes food webs

We study the dynamics of two predator–prey systems that are coupled via cross-predation, in which each predator consumes also the other prey. This setup constitutes a model system in which conjugate coupling emerges naturally and denotes the transition from two separate food chains to a food web. We show that cross-predation of a certain strength leads to amplitude death stabilizing the food web in a new equilibrium.     

Dynamic complexities of predator–prey system in a pulsed chemostat

In this paper, we study a food chain model with Holling III and Monod type functional response under periodic pulsed conditions, which contains with predator, prey and periodically pulsed substrate. We investigate the subsystem with substrate and prey and study the stability of the boundary periodic solution. By use of standard techniques of bifurcation theory, we prove that above this threshold there are periodic oscillations in prey and predator. Furthermore, by comparing bifurcation diagrams with different bifurcation parameters, we can see that the system shows two kinds of bifurcations, whose are period-doubling and period-halving.     

Interactive effects of prey refuge and additional food for predator in a diffusive predator-prey system

Additional food for predators has been considered as one of the best established techniques in integrated pest management and biological conservation programs. In natural systems, there are several other factors, e.g., prey refuge, affect the success of pest control. In this paper, we analyze a predator-prey system with prey refuge and additional food for predator apart from the focal prey in the presence of diffusion. Our main aim is to study the interactive effects of prey refuge and additional food on the system dynamics and especially on the controllability of prey (pest). Different types of Turing patterns such as stripes, spots, holes, and mixtures of them are obtained. It is found that the supply of additional food to the predator is unable to control the prey (pest) population when prey refuge is high. Moreover, when both prey refuge and additional food are low, spatial distribution of prey becomes complex and once again prey control becomes difficult. However, the joint effect of reduction in prey refuge and the presence of appropriate amount of additional food can control prey (pest) population from the system.     

The chaos and control of a food chain model supplying additional food to top-predator

The control and management of chaotic population is one of the main objectives for constructing mathematical model in ecology today. In this paper, we apply a technique of controlling chaotic predator–prey population dynamics by supplying additional food to top-predator. We formulate a three species predator–prey model supplying additional food to top-predator. Existence conditions and local stability criteria of equilibrium points are determined analytically. Persistence conditions for the system are derived. Global stability conditions of interior equilibrium point is calculated. Theoretical results are verified through numerical simulations. Phase diagram is presented for various quality and quantity of additional food. One parameter bifurcation analysis is done with respect to quality and quantity of additional food separately keeping one of them fixed. Using MATCONT package, we derive the bifurcation scenarios when both the parameters quality and quantity of additional food vary together. We predict the existence of Hopf point (H), limit point (LP) and branch point (BP) in the model for suitable supply of additional food. We have computed the regions of different dynamical behaviour in the quantity–quality parametric plane. From our study we conclude that chaotic population dynamics of predator prey system can be controlled to obtain regular population dynamics only by supplying additional food to top predator. This study is aimed to introduce a new non-chemical chaos control mechanism in a predator–prey system with the applications in fishery management and biological conservation of prey predator species.     

On an eco-epidemiological model with prey harvesting and predator switching: Local and global perspectives

In this paper, we study an eco-epidemiological model where prey disease is modeled by a Susceptible-Infected (SI) scheme. Saturation incidence kinetics is used to model the contact process. The predator population adapt switching technique among susceptible and infected prey. The prey species is supposed to be commercially viable and undergo constant non-selective harvesting. We study the stability aspects of the basic and the switching models around the infection-free state and the infected steady state from a local as well as a global perspective. Our aim is to study the role of harvesting and switching on the dynamics of disease propagation and/or eradication. A comparison of the local and global dynamical behavior in terms of important system parameters is obtained. Numerical simulations are done to illustrate the analytical results.     

Non-selective harvesting in prey–predator models with delay

In this paper we are interested in studying the combined effects of harvesting and time delay on the dynamics of the generalized Gause type predator–prey models. It is shown that in these models the time delay may cause a stable equilibrium to become unstable and even a switching of stabilities, on the other hand harvesting effort has a stabilizing effect on the equilibrium if it is under the critical harvesting effort level. Simulations are carried out to explain some of the mathematical conclusions.     

A simple Gause‐type predator–prey model considering social predation

The consumer–resource relationships are among the most fundamental of all ecological relationships and have been the focus of ecology since its beginnings. Usually are described by nonlinear differential equation systems, putting the emphasis in the effect of antipredator behavior (APB) by the prey; nevertheless, a minor quantity of articles has considered the social behavior of predators. In this work, two predator–prey models derived from the Volterra model are analyzed, in which the equation of predators is modified considering cooperation or collaboration among predators. It is well known that competition among predators produces a stabilizing effect on system describing the model, since there exists a wide set in the parameter space where the system has a unique equilibrium point in the phase plane, which is globally asymptotically stable. Meanwhile, the cooperation can originate more complex and unusual dynamics. As we will show, it is possible to prove that for certain subset of parameter values the predator population sizes tend to infinite when the prey population goes to extinct. This apparently contradicts the idea of a realistic model, when it is implicitly assumed that the predators are specialist, ie, the prey is its unique source of food. However, this could be a desirable effect when the prey constitutes a plague. To reinforce the analytical result, numerical simulations are presented.     

Effect of diffusion on a two-species eco-epidemiological model

This paper deals with the stabilizing effect of diffusion on a prey?–?predator system where the prey population is infected by a microparasite. The predator functional response is a concave-type function. Conditions for the local as well as global stability of the model without diffusion are derived in terms of system parameters. It is also shown that an unstable equilibrium of the model without diffusion can be made stable by increasing the diffusion coefficients appropriately.     

Two-patches prey impulsive diffusion periodic predator–prey model

In this paper, we study a periodic predator–prey system with prey impulsive diffusion in two patches. On the basis of comparison theorem of impulsive differential equation and other analysis methods, sufficient and necessary conditions on the predator–prey system where predator have not other food source are established. Two examples and numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the feasibility of our results. A conclusion is given in the end.     

STABILITY ANALYSIS OF A TRITROPHIC FOOD CHAIN MODEL WITH AN ADAPTIVE PARAMETER FOR THE PREDATOR

Abstract The study of three‐species communities have become the focus of considerable attention, and because the studies of ecological communities start with their food web, we consider a tritrophic food chain model comprised of the prey, the predator, and the super‐predator. The classical assumption of the domino effect is supplemented with an adaptive parameter for the predator (in the absence of prey). Thus, the model exhibits an equilibrium with the predator‐top‐predator steady state, which is a saddle point. Dynamical behaviors such as boundedness, existence of periodic orbits, persistence, as well as stability are analyzed. The long‐term coexistence of the three interacting species is addressed, and the stability analysis of the model shows that the biologically most relevant equilibrium point is globally asymptotically stable whenever it satisfies a certain criterion. Practical implications are explored and related to real populations.     

Weak Allee effect in a predator–prey model involving memory with a hump

In this paper we consider a predator–prey system which has a factor that allows for a reduction in fitness due to declining population sizes, often termed an Allee effect. We study the influence of the weak Allee effect which is included in the prey equation and we determine conditions for the occurrence of Hopf bifurcation. The prey population is limited by the carrying capacity of the environment, and the predator growth rate depends on past quantities of the prey which is represented by a weight function that specifies a moment in the past when the quantity of food is the most important from the point of view of the present growth of the predator. The stability properties of the system and the biological issues of the memory and Allee effect on the coexistence of the two species are studied. Finally we present some simulations to verify the veracity of the analytical conclusions.     

The dynamical behaviors of a food chain model with impulsive effect and Ivlev functional response

In this paper, a food chain model with Ivlev functional response and impulsive effect of top predator is investigated. Conditions for extinction of mid-level predator are given. By using the Floquet theory of linear τ-period impulsive differential equation and small amplitude perturbation skills, we show that the lowest-level prey and the mid-level predator extinction periodic solution is unstable, while the mid-level predator eradication periodic solution is stable, and meanwhile, we prove that the system is permanent if the impulsive period is larger than some critical value. Furthermore, influences of the impulsive perturbation on the inherent oscillation are studied numerically, which displays complicated behavior including a sequence of direct and inverse cascade of period doubling, period halfing as well as chaos.     

Persistence and global stability of positive periodic solutions of three species food chains with omnivory

In this paper, we investigate the existence and global stability of the positive periodic solutions of delayed discrete food chains with omnivory. With the help of continuation theorem in coincidence degree theory and Lyapunov functions, some sufficient conditions are obtained. The results show that, for such a system with omnivory, more conditions are required for the persistence of the positive periodic solutions than that of a linear food chain. On the other hand, omnivory makes no differences on the stability of the solutions.     

Stationary distribution and extinction for a food chain chemostat model with random perturbation

In this paper, we study the dynamical behavior of a stochastic food chain chemostat model, in which the white noise is proportional to the variables. Firstly, we prove the existence and uniqueness of the global positive solution. Then by constructing suitable Lyapunov functions, we show the system has a unique ergodic stationary distribution. Furthermore, the extinction of microorganisms is discussed in two cases. In one case, both the prey and the predator species are extinct, and in the other case, the prey species is surviving and the predator species is extinct. Finally, numerical experiments are performed for supporting the theoretical results.     

Analysis of a Monod–Haldene type food chain chemostat with periodically varying substrate

In this paper, we introduce and study a model of a Monod–Haldene type food chain chemostat with periodically varying substrate. We investigate the subsystem with substrate and prey and study the stability of the periodic solutions, which are the boundary periodic solutions of the system. The stability analysis of the boundary periodic solution yields an invasion threshold. By use of standard techniques of bifurcation theory, we prove that above this threshold there are periodic oscillations in substrate, prey and predator. Furthermore, we numerically simulate a model with sinusoidal input, by comparing bifurcation diagrams with different bifurcation parameters, we can see that the periodic system shows two kinds of bifurcations, whose are period-doubling and period-halfing.     

Aggregation methods in food chains

The aim of this paper is to apply aggregation methods to food chains under batch and chemostat conditions. These predator-prey systems are modelled using ODEs, one for each trophic level. Because the models are based on mass conservation laws, they are conservative and this allows perfect aggregation. Furthermore, it is assumed that the ingestion rate of the predator is smaller than that of the prey. On this assumption, approximate aggregation can be performed, yielding further reduction of the dimension of the system. We will study a food chain often found in wastewater treatment plants. This food chain consists of sewage, bacteria, and worms. In order to show the feasibility of the aggregation methods, we will compare simulated results for the reduced and the full model of this food chain under chemostat conditions.     

The role of top predator interference on the dynamics of a food chain model

In this paper, the effects of top predator interference on the dynamics of a food chain model involving an intermediate and a top predator are considered. It is assumed that the interaction between the prey and intermediate predator follows the Volterra scheme, while that between the top predator and its favorite food depends on Beddington–DeAngelis type of functional response. The boundedness of the system, existence of an attracting set, local and global stability of non-negative equilibrium points are established. Number of the bifurcation and Lyapunov exponent bifurcation diagrams is established. It is observed that, the model has different types of attracting sets including chaos. Moreover, increasing the top predator interference stabilizes the system, while increasing the normalization of the residual reduction in the top predator population destabilizes the system.