Bifurcation and overexploitation in Rosenzweig-MacArthur model

Abstract

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>In this paper, we propose a Rosenzweig–MacArthur predator-prey model with strong Allee effect and trigonometric functional response. The local and global stability of equilibria is studied, and the existence of bifurcation is determined in terms of the carrying capacity of the prey, the death rate of the predator and the Allee effect. An analytic expression is employed to determine the criticality and codimension of Hopf bifurcation. The existence of supercritical Hopf bifurcation and the non-existence of Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation at the positive equilibrium are proved. A point-to-point heteroclinic cycle is also found. Biologically speaking, such a heteroclinic cycle always indicates the collapse of the system after the invasion of the predator, i.e., overexploitation occurs. It is worth pointing out that heteroclinic relaxation cycles are driven by either the strong Allee effect or the high per capita death rate. In addition, numerical simulations are given to demonstrate the theoretical results.</p>