Exploitation in Three Trophic Levels: An Extension Allowing Intraspecies Carnivore Interaction

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A 3-component carnivore-herbivore-plant ecosystem is studied by assuming that these populations are differentiable functions of a continuous time variable, the sizes of which are governed by 1st-order coupled nonlinear differential equations such that the carnivore exploits the herbivore and the herbivore exploits the plant. A modification of a mathematical model due to Rosenzweig (1973) is employed, with the chief change being the allowance of the carnivores to engage in direct intraspecies interaction. A linear stability analysis of the critical points of this system is performed. The results of this analysis when compared with Rosenzweig''s show that intraspecific carnivore competition has a stabilizing influence while mutualism has a destabilizing tendency on his system. Further, if that mutualism is too strong the system will become identically unstable. Comparison of these results with a 2-component carnivore-herbivore model shows that explicit dynamical consideration of the plant stabilizes that system also.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: