All issues

We consider a spatiotemporal model of a tritrophic system describing the interaction between prey, predator, and superpredator in an environment with nonuniform resource distribution. The model incorporates superpredator omnivory (Intraguild Predation, IGP), diffusion, and directed migration (taxis), the latter modeled using a logarithmic function of resource availability and prey density. The primary focus is on analyzing the multistability of the system and the role of cosymmetry in the formation of continuous families of steady-state solutions. Using a numerical-analytical approach, we study both spatially homogeneous and inhomogeneous steady-state solutions. It is established that under additional relations between the parameters governing local predator interactions and diffusion coefficients, the system exhibits cosymmetry, leading to the emergence of a family of stable steady-state solutions proportional to the resource function. We demonstrate that the cosymmetry is independent of the resource function in the case of a heterogeneous environment. The stability of stationary distributions is investigated using spectral methods. Violation of the cosymmetry conditions results in the breakdown of the solution family and the emergence of isolated equilibria, as well as prolonged transient dynamics reflecting the system’s “memory” of the vanished states. Depending on initial conditions and parameters, the system exhibits transitions to single-predator regimes (survival of either the predator or superpredator) or predator coexistence. Numerical experiments based on the method of lines, which involves finite difference discretization in space and Runge –Kutta integration in time, confirm the system’s multistability and illustrate the disappearance of solution families when cosymmetry is broken.

The paper investigates the dynamics of a finite-dimensional model describing the interaction of three populations: prey $x(t)$, its consuming predator $y(t)$, and a superpredator $z(t)$ that feeds on both species. Mathematically, the problem is formulated as a system of nonlinear first-order differential equations with the following right-hand side: $[x(1-x)-(y+z)g;\,\eta_1^{}yg-d_1^{}f-\mu_1^{}y;\,\eta_2^{}zg+d_2^{}f-\mu_2^{}z]$, where $\eta_j^{}$, $d_j^{}$, $\mu_j^{}$ ($j=1,\,2$) are positive coefficients. The considered model belongs to the class of cosymmetric dynamical systems under the Lotka\,--\,Volterra functional response $g=x$, $f=yz$, and two parameter constraints: $\mu_2^{}=d_2^{}\left(1+\frac{\mu_1^{}}{d_1^{}}\right)$, $\eta_2^{}=d_2^{}\left(1+\frac{\eta_1^{}}{d_1^{}}\right)$. In this case, a family of equilibria is being of a straight line in phase space. We have analyzed the stability of the equilibria from the family and isolated equilibria. Maps of stationary solutions and limit cycles have been constructed. The breakdown of the family is studied by violating the cosymmetry conditions and using the Holling model $g(x)=\frac x{1+b_1^{}x}$ and the Beddington–DeAngelis model $f(y,\,z)=\frac{yz}{1+b_2^{}y+b_3^{}z}$. To achieve this, the apparatus of Yudovich's theory of cosymmetry is applied, including the computation of cosymmetric defects and selective functions. Through numerical experimentation, invasive scenarios have been analyzed, encompassing the introduction of a superpredator into the predator-prey system, the elimination of the predator, or the superpredator.