Existence of positive periodic solutions for a periodic predator–prey model with fear effect and general functional responses

Abstract

This paper investigates the existence of positive periodic solutions for a periodic predator-prey model with fear effect and general functional responses. The general functional responses can cover the Holling types II and III functional response, the Beddington–DeAngelis functional response, the Crowley–Martin functional response, the ratio-dependent type with Michaelis–Menten type functional response, etc. Some new sufficient conditions for the existence of positive periodic solutions of the model are obtained by employing the continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory and some ingenious estimation techniques for the upper and lower bounds of the a priori solutions of the corresponding operator equation. Our results considerably improve and extend some known results.