Predator–prey models with component Allee effect for predator reproduction

• Published in: Journal of mathematical biology Vol. 71; no. 6-7; pp. 1325 - 1352
• Main Author: Terry, Alan J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.12.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Applications of Mathematics; Computer Simulation; Ecosystem; Female; Food Chain; Genetic Fitness; Male; Mathematical and Computational Biology; Mathematical Concepts; Mathematics; Mathematics and Statistics; Models, Biological; Pest Control, Biological; Population Dynamics; Predatory Behavior - physiology; Reproduction; Prey resurgence; Allee effect; Predator birth rate; Trapping region; 34C60; Predator–prey model; 92D40
• ISSN: 0303-6812; 1432-1416; 1432-1416
• DOI: 10.1007/s00285-015-0856-5

We present four predator–prey models with component Allee effect for predator reproduction. Using numerical simulation results for our models, we describe how the customary definitions of component and demographic Allee effects, which work well for single species models, can be extended to predators in predator–prey models by assuming that the prey population is held fixed. We also find that when the prey population is not held fixed, then these customary definitions may lead to conceptual problems. After this discussion of definitions, we explore our four models, analytically and numerically. Each of our models has a fixed point that represents predator extinction, which is always locally stable. We prove that the predator will always die out either if the initial predator population is sufficiently small or if the initial prey population is sufficiently small. Through numerical simulations, we explore co-existence fixed points. In addition, we demonstrate, by simulation, the existence of a stable limit cycle in one of our models. Finally, we derive analytical conditions for a co-existence trapping region in three of our models, and show that the fourth model cannot possess a particular kind of co-existence trapping region. We punctuate our results with comments on their real-world implications; in particular, we mention the possibility of prey resurgence from mortality events, and the possibility of failure in a biological pest control program.