Dynamical study of fractional order differential equations of predator‐pest models

Abstract

To explore the impact of pest-control strategy through a fractional derivative, we consider three predator-prey systems by simple modification of Rosenzweig-MacArthur model. First, we consider fractional-order Rosenzweig-MacArthur model. Allee threshold phenomena into pest population is considered for the second case. Finally, we consider additional food to the predator and harvesting in prey population. The main objective of the present investigation is to observe which model is most suitable for the pest control. To achieve this goal, we perform the local stability analysis of the equilibrium points and observe the basic dynamical properties of all the systems. We observe fractional-order system has the ability to stabilize Rosenzweig-MacArthur model with low pest density from oscillatory state. In the numerical simulations, we focus on the bistable regions of the second and third model, and we also observe the effect of the fractional order α throughout the stability region of the system. For the third model, we observe a saddle-node bifurcation due to the additional food and Allee effect to the pest densities. Also, we numerically plot two parameter bifurcation diagram with respect to the harvesting parameter and fractional order of the system. We finally conclude that fractional-order Rosenzweig-MacArthur model and the modified Rosenzweig-MacArthur model with additional food for the predator and harvested pest population are more suitable models for the pest management.