Bifurcation analysis of a Leslie-type predator–prey system with simplified Holling type IV functional response and strong Allee effect on prey

Abstract

In this paper, a Leslie-type predator–prey system with simplified Holling type IV functional response and strong Allee effect on prey is proposed. The dissipativity of the system and the existence of all possible equilibria are investigated. The investigation emphasizes the exploring of bifurcation. It is shown that the system exists several non-hyperbolic positive equilibria, such as a weak focus of multiplicities one and two, (degenerate) saddle–nodes and Bogdanov–Takens singularities (cusp case) of codimensions 2 and 3. At these equilibria, it is proved that the system undergoes various kinds of bifurcations, such as saddle–node bifurcation, Hopf bifurcation, degenerate Hopf bifurcation and Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation of codimensions 2 and 3. With the parameters selected properly, there exhibits a limit cycle, a homoclinic loop, two limit cycles, a semistable limit cycle, or the simultaneous occurrence of a homoclinic loop and a limit cycle in the system. Moreover, it is also proved that the system has a cusp of codimension at least 4. Hence, there may exist three limit cycles generated from Hopf bifurcation of codimension 3. Numerical simulations are done to support the theoretical results.