The effect of prey refuge in a patchy predator–prey system

In this work, we proposed a patchy predator–prey model with one patch as refuge and the other as open habitat, and incorporated prey refuge in the considered model explicitly. We applied an analytical approach to study the dynamic consequences of the simplest forms of refuge used by prey and the migration efficiency. The results have shown that the refuge used by prey and the migration efficiency play an important role in the dynamic consequences of the interacting populations and the equilibrium density of two interacting populations. This work also proposed a new approach which can incorporate prey refuge in predator–prey system explicitly.

► A patchy predator–prey model with one patch as refuge and the other as open habitat is proposed.
► The dynamic consequences of the simplest forms of refuge used by prey and the migration efficiency is studied.
► A new approach which can incorporate prey refuge in patchy predator–prey system explicitly is proposed.