Stability and bifurcation of a nutrient-autotroph-herbivore model with nutrient recycling under two delays

In this article, a nutrient-autotroph-herbivore model with nutrient recycling is constructed. Holling type-II functional response for the relation between nutrient and autotroph while Beddington-DeAngelis-type functional response for autotroph and herbivore relation are considered here. It is plausible that the conversion of nutrient from dead biomass (autotroph and herbivore) by decomposers (i.e., bacteria and fungi) are not instantaneous, which takes times. Hereby, two different discrete time delays for the decomposition process are introduced. The local and global stability behaviours of both nondelayed and delayed models are analysed around the equilibrium points. The stability and direction of Hopf-bifurcation using normal form theory and centre manifold theorem by taking one delay as a bifurcation parameter while keeping the other one fixed in the stable interval are discussed. It is observed that if the delay increases, the system loses its stability and hence becomes unstable. It is analysed how autotroph-herbivore ecosystem can be affected by the quantity of input nutrient and the properties of delays. The quantity of nutrient and the length of delays play significant roles in determining the stability of the system since a sufficiently small amount of nutrients or a long enough delay leads to the extinction of a species.