Bifurcation analysis of a plant–herbivore model with toxin-determined functional response

A system of ordinary differential equations is considered which models the plant–herbivore interactions mediated by a toxin-determined functional response. The new functional response is a modification of the traditional Holling Type II functional response by explicitly including a reduction in the consumption of plants by the herbivore due to chemical defenses. A detailed bifurcation analysis of the system reveals a rich array of possible behaviors including cyclical dynamics through Hopf bifurcations and homoclinic bifurcation. The results are obtained not only analytically but also confirmed and extended numerically.