Bifurcation, Chaos and Turing Instability Analysis for a Space-Time Discrete Toxic Phytoplankton-Zooplankton Model with Self-Diffusion

Abstract

The spatiotemporal dynamics of a space-time discrete toxic phytoplankton-zooplankton model is studied in this paper. The stable conditions for steady states are obtained through the linear stability analysis. According to the center manifold theorem and bifurcation theory, the critical parameter values for flip bifurcation, Neimark–Sacker bifurcation and Turing bifurcation are determined, respectively. Besides, the numerical simulations are provided to illustrate theoretical results. In order to distinguish chaos from regular behaviors, the maximum Lyapunov exponents are shown. The simulations show new and complex dynamics behaviors, such as period-doubling cascade, invariant circles, periodic windows, chaotic region and pattern formations. Numerical simulations of Turing patterns induced by flip-Turing instability, Neimark–Sacker Turing instability and chaos reveal a variety of spatiotemporal patterns, including plaque, curl, spiral, circle, and many other regular and irregular patterns. In comparison with former results in literature, the space-time discrete version considered in this paper captures more complicated and richer nonlinear dynamics behaviors and contributes a new comprehension on the complex pattern formation of spatially extended discrete phytoplankton-zooplankton system.