Theoretical Study of Pest Control Using Stage Structured Natural Enemies with Maturation Delay: A Crop-Pest-Natural Enemy Model

In the natural world, there are many insect species whose individual members have a life history that takes them through two stages, immature and mature. Moreover, the rates of survival, development, and reproduction almost always depend on age, size, or development stage. Keeping this in mind, in this paper, a three species crop-pest-natural enemy food chain model with two stages for natural enemies is investigated. Using characteristic equations, a set of sufficient conditions for local asymptotic stability of all the feasible equilibria is obtained. Moreover, using approach as in (Beretta and Kuang, 2002), the possibility of the existence of a Hopf bifurcation for the interior equilibrium with respect to maturation delay is explored, which shows that the maturation delay plays an important role in the dynamical behavior of three species system. Also obtain some threshold values of maturation delay for the stability-switching of the particular system. In succession, using the normal form theory and center manifold argument, we derive the explicit formulas which determine the stability and direction of bifurcating periodic solutions. Finally, a numerical simulation for supporting the theoretical analysis is given.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figure

An Impulsive Two-Prey One-Predator System with Seasonal Effects

In recent years, the impulsive population systems have been studied by many researchers. However, seasonal effects on prey are rarely discussed. Thus, in this paper, the dynamics of the Holling-type IV two-competitive-prey one-predator system with impulsive perturbations and seasonal effects are analyzed using the Floquet theory and comparison techniques. It is assumed that the impulsive perturbations act in a periodic fashion, the proportional impulses (the chemical controls) for all species and the constant impulse (the biological control) for the predator at different fixed time but, the same period. In addition, the intrinsic growth rates of prey population are regarded as a periodically varying function of time due to seasonal variations. Sufficient conditions for the local and global stabilities of the two-prey-free periodic solution are established. It is proven that the system is permanent under some conditions. Moreover, sufficient conditions, under which one of the two preys is extinct and the remaining two species are permanent, are also found. Finally, numerical examples and conclusion are given

Complex dynamics of a three species food-chain model with Holling type IV functional response

In this paper, dynamical complexities of a three species food chain model with Holling type IV predator response is investigated analytically as well as numerically. The local and global stability analysis is carried out. The persistence criterion of the food chain model is obtained. Numerical bifurcation analysis reveals the chaotic behavior in a narrow region of the bifurcation parameter space for biologically realistic parameter values of the model system. Transition to chaotic behavior is established via period-doubling bifurcation and some sequences of distinctive period-halving bifurcation leading to limit cycles are observed

Influence of impreciseness in designing tritrophic level complex food chain modeling in interval environment

Abstract In this paper, we construct a tritrophic level food chain model considering the model parameters as fuzzy interval numbers. We check the positivity and boundedness of solutions of the model system and find out all the equilibrium points of the model system along with its existence criteria. We perform stability analysis at all equilibrium points of the model system and discuss in the imprecise environment. We also perform meticulous numerical simulations to study the dynamical behavior of the model system in detail. Finally, we incorporate different harvesting scenarios in the model system and deploy maximum sustainable yield (MSY) policies to determine optimum level of harvesting in the imprecise environment without putting any unnecessary extra risk on the species toward its possible extinction

Nonlinear dynamics of plankton ecosystem with impulsive control and environmental fluctuations

It is well known that the density of plankton populations always increases and decreases or keeps invariant for a long time, and the variation of plankton density is an important factor influencing the real aquatic environments, why do these situations occur? It is an interesting topic which has become the common interest for many researchers. As the basis of the food webs in oceans, lakes, and reservoirs, plankton plays a significant role in the material circulation and energy flow for real aquatic ecosystems that have a great effect on the economic and social values. Planktonic blooms can occur in some environments, however, and the direct or indirect adverse effects of planktonic blooms on real aquatic ecosystems, such as water quality, water landscape, aquaculture development, are sometimes catastrophic, and thus planktonic blooms have become a challenging and intractable problem worldwide in recent years. Therefore, to understand these effects so that some necessary measures can be taken, it is important and meaningful to investigate the dynamic growth mechanism of plankton and reveal the dynamics mechanisms of formation and disappearance of planktonic blooms. To this end, based on the background of the ecological environments in the subtropical lakes and reservoirs, this dissertation research takes mainly the planktonic algae as the research objective to model the mechanisms of plankton growth and evolution. In this dissertation, some theories related to population dynamics, impulsive control dynamics, stochastic dynamics, as well as the methods of dynamic modeling, dynamic analysis and experimental simulation, are applied to reveal the effects of some key biological factors on the dynamics mechanisms of the spatial-temporal distribution of plankton and the termination of planktonic blooms, and to predict the dynamics evolutionary processes of plankton growth. The main results are as follows: Firstly, to discuss the prevention and control strategies on planktonic blooms, an impulsive reaction-diffusion hybrid system was developed. On the one hand, the dynamic analysis showed that impulsive control can significantly influence the dynamics of the system, including the ultimate boundedness, extinction, permanence, and the existence and uniqueness of positive periodic solution of the system. On the other hand, some experimental simulations were preformed to reveal that impulsive control can lead to the extinction and permanence of population directly. More precisely, the prey and intermediate predator populations can coexist at any time and location of their inhabited domain, while the top predator population undergoes extinction when the impulsive control parameter exceeds some a critical value, which can provide some key arguments to control population survival by means of some reaction-diffusion impulsive hybrid systems in the real life. Additionally, a heterogeneous environment can affect the spatial distribution of plankton and change the temporal-spatial oscillation of plankton distribution. All results are expected to be helpful in the study of dynamic complex of ecosystems. Secondly, a stochastic phytoplankton-zooplankton system with toxic phytoplankton was proposed and the effects of environmental stochasticity and toxin-producing phytoplankton (TPP) on the dynamics mechanisms of the termination of planktonic blooms were discussed. The research illustrated that white noise can aggravate the stochastic oscillation of plankton density and a high-level intensity of white noise can accelerate the extinction of plankton and may be advantageous for the disappearance of harmful phytoplankton, which imply that the white noise can help control the biomass of plankton and provide a guide for the termination of planktonic blooms. Additionally, some experimental simulations were carried out to reveal that the increasing toxin liberation rate released by TPP can increase the survival chance of phytoplankton population and reduce the biomass of zooplankton population, but the combined effects of those two toxin liberation rates on the changes in plankton are stronger than that of controlling any one of the two TPP. All results suggest that both white noise and TPP can play an important role in controlling planktonic blooms. Thirdly, we established a stochastic phytoplankton-toxic producing phytoplankton-zooplankton system under regime switching and investigated how the white noise, regime switching and TPP affect the dynamics mechanisms of planktonic blooms. The dynamical analysis indicated that both white noise and toxins released by TPP are disadvantageous to the development of plankton and may increase the risk of plankton extinction. Also, a series of experimental simulations were carried out to verify the correctness of the dynamical analysis and further reveal the effects of the white noise, regime switching and TPP on the dynamics mechanisms of the termination of planktonic blooms. On the one hand, the numerical study revealed that the system can switch from one state to another due to regime shift, and further indicated that the regime switching can balance the different survival states of plankton density and decrease the risk of plankton extinction when the density of white noise are particularly weak. On the other hand, an increase in the toxin liberation rate can increase the survival chance of phytoplankton but reduce the biomass of zooplankton, which implies that the presence of toxic phytoplankton may have a positive effect on the termination of planktonic blooms. These results may provide some insightful understanding on the dynamics of phytoplankton-zooplankton systems in randomly disturbed aquatic environments. Finally, a stochastic non-autonomous phytoplankton-zooplankton system involving TPP and impulsive perturbations was studied, where the white noise, impulsive perturbations and TPP are incorporated into the system to simulate the natural aquatic ecological phenomena. The dynamical analysis revealed some key threshold conditions that ensure the existence and uniqueness of a global positive solution, plankton extinction and persistence in the mean. In particular, we determined if there is a positive periodic solution for the system when the toxin liberation rate reaches a critical value. Some experimental simulations also revealed that both white noise and impulsive control parameter can directly influence the plankton extinction and persistence in the mean. Significantly, enhancing the toxin liberation rate released by TPP increases the possibility of phytoplankton survival but reduces the zooplankton biomass. All these results can improve our understanding of the dynamics of complex of aquatic ecosystems in a fluctuating environment

Seasonal Effects on a Beddington-DeAngelis Type Predator-Prey System with Impulsive Perturbations

We study a Beddington-DeAngelis type predator-prey system with impulsive perturbation and seasonal effects. First, we numerically observe the influence of seasonal effects on the system without impulsive perturbations. Next, we find the conditions for the local and global stabilities of prey-free periodic solutions by using Floquet theory for the impulsive equation and small amplitude perturbation skills, and for the permanence of the system via comparison theorem. Finally, we show that seasonal effects and impulsive perturbation can give birth to various kinds of dynamical behavior of the system including chaotic phenomena by numerical simulations

Metabolic adjustment enhances food web stability

International audienceUnderstanding ecosystem stability is one of the greatest challenges of ecology. Over several decades, it has been shown that allometric scaling of biological rates and feeding interactions provide stability to complex food web models. Moreover, introducing adaptive responses of organisms to environmental changes (e.g. like adaptive foraging that enables organisms to adapt their diets depending on resources abundance) improved species persistence in food webs. Here, we introduce the concept of metabolic adjustment, i.e. the ability of species to slow down their metabolic rates when facing starvation and to increase it in time of plenty. We study the reactions of such a model to nutrient enrichment and the adjustment speed of metabolic rates. We found that increasing nutrient enrichment leads to a paradox of enrichment (increase in biomasses and oscillation amplitudes and ultimately extinction of species) but metabolic adjustment stabilises the system by dampening the oscillations. Metabolic adjustment also increases the average biomass of the top predator in a tri-trophic food chain. In complex food webs, metabolic adjustment has a stabilising effect as it promotes species survival by creating a large diversity of metabolic rates. However, this stabilising effect is mitigated in enriched ecosystems. Phenotypic plasticity of organisms must be considered in food web models to better understand the response of organisms to their environment. As metabolic rate is central in describing biological rates, we must pay attention to its variations to fully understand the population dynamics of natural communities

Cumulative effects assessment: proof of concept marine mammals

This development of the framework and approach for a Cumulative Effects Assessment (CEA) is based on a literature review. The literature identified some key challenges that need to be addressed for CEA to evolve into a consistent, appropriate tool to assist decision-making. These challenges included • A clear distinction of the receptor-led CEA from the dominating stressor-led Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approaches and • Enabling CEA to provide ecosystem-relevant information at an appropriate regional scale. Therefore this CEA is explicitly developed to be a receptor-led and fully integrated framework, i.e. involving multiple occurrences of multiple pressures (from single and/or different sources) on multiple receptors, as opposed to other existing approaches dealing with only a subset of those pressures or receptors, hence our use of the phrase iCEA for integrated CEA. As a proof of concept for this iCEA we selected one receptor, the ecosystem component marine mammals. The main conclusions of this exercise (see Chapter 6) are that the iCEA framework and approach presented in this study appear suitable to fulfil its main purpose and ultimately inform the policy process as described in the conception phase. However it should be acknowledged this is only the very first step in a process where through many iterations new information can be introduced and assessed (relative to existing information) based on the criteria provided resulting in an improved iCEA with increasing confidence levels. As more information becomes available the relative importance of impact chains and its corresponding information modules may change giving direction to new areas for research. For further development of this iCEA towards its intended applications we can distinguish between the first purpose, i.e. identification of the main impact chains contributing to the risk that a specific ecosystem component is impacted, which can be achieved with the approach presented here focussing on one specific ecosystem component and the second purpose, i.e. an evaluation of the performance of possible management strategies, which would require all ecosystem components to be included as would be required for ecosystem-based management. Thus to further the development and application of this iCEA towards its (two) purpose(s) the recommendation is to: • Include the available information presented in this report into the iCEA and develop the Bayesian Belief Network such that it can process this information and its associated confidence into an assessment that identifies the main impact chains for the marine mammals. • Extend the framework and approach to (all) the other ecosystem components so that a truly integrated CEA is possible. Note that this is likely to affect the identification of what should be considered the main pressures to guide management. • Improve the information modules that emerged from the evaluation as the most promising to increase the confidence in the outcome of the iCEA. Note that the previous two steps may result in a different prioritisation of the information modules as the importance of pressures and hence impact chains changes

A Mathematical Model for the Dynamics of a Fish Algae Consumption Model with Impulsive Control Strategy

A dynamic mathematical model of fish algae consumption with an impulsive control strategy is proposed and analyzed in detail. It is shown that the system has a globally asymptotically stable algae-eradication periodic solution which can be obtained using the Floquet theory of impulsive differential equations and small-amplitude perturbation techniques. The conditions for the permanence of the system can also be determined. Numerical results for impulsive perturbations show the rich dynamic behavior of the system. All these results may be useful in controlling eutrophication