SELF-DIFFUSIVE SPATIOTEMPORAL PATTERNS IN A FOOD CHAIN MODEL THROUGH WEAKLY NONLINEAR ANALYSIS

Abstract

Density distributions of populations with self-diffusion and interaction in a spatial domain are dynamically visualized with coupled nonlinear reaction–diffusion equations. Incorporating self-diffusion terms creates a more pragmatic modeling paradigm and provides meaningful descriptions of influences on spatiotemporal pattern formation phenomena. This paper examines the effect of self-diffusion in a food chain system with a Holling type-IV functional response and the type of spatial structures forms on a geographical scale due to the random movement of species. We discussed the existence and uniqueness of a positive equilibrium solution and obtained the Turing instability conditions for the self-diffusive food chain model. Moreover, weakly nonlinear analysis close to the Turing bifurcation boundary is used to derive the amplitude equations. The stability of the amplitude equations and sufficient conditions for the emanation of spatiotemporal patterns (such as spots, stripes, and blended patterns) are investigated. The analytical results are verified with numerical simulations. The results are applicable to all environments and can be used to understand the effects of self-diffusion in other food chain models both qualitatively and quantitatively.