Invasive dynamics for a predator–prey system with Allee effect in both populations and a special emphasis on predator mortality

Abstract

We considered a non-linear predator–prey model with an Allee effect on both populations on a two spatial dimension reaction-diffusion setup. Special importance to predator mortality was given as it may be often controlled through human-made harvesting processes. The local dynamics of the model was studied through boundedness, equilibrium, and stability analysis. An extensive numerical stability analysis was performed and found that bi-stability is not possible for the non-spatial model. By analyzing the spatial model, we found the condition for successful invasion and the persistence region of the species based on the predator Allee effect and its mortality parameter. Four different dynamics in this region of the parameter space are mainly explored. First, the Allee effect on both populations leads to various new types of species spread. Second, for a high value of per-capita growth rate, two completely new spreads (e.g., sun surface, colonial) have been found depending on the Allee effect parameter. Third, the Allee coefficient on the predator population leads to spatiotemporal chaos via a patchy spread for both linear and quadratic mortality rates. Finally, a more rigorous analysis is performed to study the chaotic nature of the system within the whole persistence domain. We have studied the possibility of chaos through temporal variation in different invasion regions. Furthermore, the chaotic fluctuation is studied through the sensitivity of initial conditions and by investigating the dominant Lyapunov exponent value.