Oscillations from satiation of predators

Abstract

We develop a mathematical model of extinction and coexistence in a generic predator-prey ecosystem composed of two herbivores in asymmetrical competition and a hunter exerting a predatory pressure on both species. With the aim of representing the satiety of hunters when preys are overabundant, we introduce for the predation behavior a dependence on preys density. Specifically, predation is modeled as growing proportionally to the presence of herbivores at low density, and saturating when the total population of prey is sufficiently large. The model predicts the existence of different regimes depending on the parameters considered: survival of a single species, coexistence of two species and extinction of the third one, and coexistence of the three species. But more interestingly, in some regions parameters space the solutions oscillate in time, both as a transient phenomena and as persistent oscillations of constant amplitude. The phenomenon is not present for the more idealized linear predation model, suggesting that it can be the source of real ecosystems oscillations.