Modeling and Analysis of the Influence of Fear on a Harvested Food Web System

Abstract

The food web is a crucial conceptual tool for understanding the dynamics of energy transfer in an ecosystem, as well as the feeding relationships among species within a community. It also reveals species interactions and community structure. As a result, an ecological food web system with two predators competing for prey while experiencing fear was developed and studied. The properties of the solution of the system were determined, and all potential equilibrium points were identified. The dynamic behavior in their immediate surroundings was examined both locally and globally. The system’s persistence demands were calculated, and all conceivable forms of local bifurcations were investigated. With the aid of MATLAB, a numerical simulation was used to clarify the control set of parameters and comprehend the overall dynamics. For the system to continue, it was determined that extremely high levels of either fear or harvesting lead to the extinction of one of the predator species. Moreover, in contrast to the ecological assumption that if two species are vying for the same resources, population values cannot be constant, this study showed that it is possible for two competing species to subsist on the same resources.

Keywords

• food web
• fear
• harvesting
• stability
• bifurcation
• persistence