Analysis of a competitive prey–predator system with a prey refuge

Gauss's competitive exclusive principle states that two competing species having analogous environment cannot usually occupy the same space at a time but in order to exploit their common environment in a different manner, they can co-exist only when they are active in different times. On the other hand, several studies on predators in various natural and laboratory situations have shown that competitive coexistence can result from predation in a way by resisting any one prey species from becoming sufficiently abundant to outcompete other species such that the predator makes the coexistence possible. It has also been shown that the use of refuges by a fraction of the prey population exerts a stabilizing effect in the interacting population dynamics. Further, the field surveys in the Sundarban mangrove ecosystem reveal that two detritivorous fishes, viz. Liza parsia and Liza tade (prey population) coexist in nature with the presence of the predator fish population, viz. Lates calcarifer by using refuges.In view of such observations in mind, a three-component model consisting of two prey and one predator population is considered in the present investigation with the inclusion of Holling type-II response function incorporating a constant proportion of prey refuge. The essential mathematical features of the present model have been analyzed thoroughly in terms of the local and the global stability and the bifurcations arising in some selected situations as well. The threshold values for some parameters indicating the feasibility and the stability conditions of some equilibria are also determined. The ranges of the significant parameters under which the system admits a Hopf bifurcation are investigated. The explicit formulae for determining the stability, direction and other properties of bifurcating periodic solutions are also derived with the use of both the normal form and the central manifold theory. Numerical illustrations are performed finally in order to validate the applicability of the model under consideration.