A delay differential equation model of mealybugs and green lacewings

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we propose and analyze a mathematical model of mealybugs and green lacewings with time delay to investigate the population dynamics of mealybugs (a major insect pest of cassava) and green lacewings (a natural enemy of mealybugs) when the time delay in the development of green lacewings is taken in to account. Hopf bifurcation theorem and Routh–Hurwitz criteria are utilized so that the conditions on the model parameters which differentiate various dynamic behaviors of the model are obtained. Computer simulations are also carried out to illustrate our theoretical predictions. Chaotic behavior observed in the field data is also investigated numerically.

Keywords

• Mathematical model
• Mealybugs
• Green lacewings
• Time delay
• Hopf-bifurcation
• Periodic solutions