Stability and Turing Patterns in a Predator–Prey Model with Hunting Cooperation and Allee Effect in Prey Population

Abstract

In this paper, we are concerned with a diffusive predator–prey model where the functional response follows the predator cooperation in hunting and the growth of the prey obeys the Allee effect. Firstly, the existence and stability of the positive equilibrium are explicitly determined by the local system parameters. It is shown that the ability of the hunting cooperation can affect the existence of the positive equilibrium and stability, and the intrinsic growth rate of the predator population does not affect the existence of the positive equilibrium, but affects the stability. Then the diffusion-driven Turing instability is investigated and the Turing bifurcation value is obtained, and we conclude that when the ability of the cooperation in hunting is weaker than some critical value, there is no Turing instability. The standard weakly nonlinear analysis method is employed to derive the amplitude equations of the Turing bifurcation, which is used to predict the types of the spatial patterns. And it is found that in the Turing instability region, with the parameter changing from approaching Turing bifurcation value to approaching Hopf bifurcation value, spatial patterns emerge from spot, spot-stripe to stripe. Finally, the numerical simulations are used to support the analytical results.