A stage-structured predator-prey model with predation over juvenile prey

We formulate and study a stage-structured predator-prey model of Beddington-DeAngelis-type functional response to investigate the impact of predation over the immature prey by the juvenile predator. This kind of predation has been omitted in many of the mathematical models, mainly due to the great challenges in mathematical analysis associated with the complicated exponential and state-dependent prey maturation rate term. We establish the threshold dynamics determined by the net reproductive number of the predator population ℜ0. The predator-free equilibrium is globally stable if ℜ0 < 1, while the predator persists if ℜ0 > 1. Numerical simulations are conducted to illustrate our analytical results. Our results show that an appropriate interference among predators may drive the state of internal coexistence into asymptotic stability.