Bloom Formation and Turing Patterns in an Infochemical Mediated Multitrophic Plankton Model

Abstract

A two-species predator–prey plankton model is studied, where the grazing pressure of microzooplankton on phytoplankton is controlled through external infochemical mediated predation. The system stability is analyzed in order to explain the conditions for phytoplankton bloom formation and to explore system bifurcations. The interplay between the level of infochemical-mediated external predation and the phytoplankton carrying capacity is considered over a range of parameter values and the resultant system dynamics is illustrated. The model is extended to include a spatial diffusion term leading to a reaction–diffusion system that is investigated by determining the Turing space of the model. Thereafter, the bifurcation analysis of specific time-independent patterns is explored. Through time integration, the system is also shown to exhibit the potential for temporally varying spatial patterns.