On a Food Web Consisting of a Specialist and a Generalist Predator

Abstract

A biologically feasible continuous time model of a three level food web consisting of a specialist and a generalist predator is investigated. The boundedness of the unique solution of the model establishes the dissipative nature of the food web. Necessary and sufficient criteria for the coexistence of the three interacting populations are established. Complex behavior of the system is evident from the bifurcation diagrams. Abundance of periodic and chaotic behavior of the species with the variation of the key parameters are also observed. The strange attractors for the time evolution of the coexisting species are drawn.