Persistence and periodic orbits of a three-competitor model with refuges (Q1182912)

In the Northwest Pacific Ocean, it is known that three species of fish, the Japanese sardine, the Pacific saury, and the chub mackerel continue to become relatively dominant in this order for more than hundred years. The attracting heteroclinic cycle in the three-competitor system cannot explain such species replacement. In this paper, to explain this fish replacement, a model composed of four patches is considered. One is a patch with three competitors forming a heteroclinic cycle. The remaining three patches are each a refuge for one of the three competitors. It is proved that the model can be made persistent by the introduction of the refuges for the competitors even if the isolated competitive patch has an attracting heteroclinic cycle. Further it is shown that Hopf bifurcation is possible when the value of the diffusion constant is changed and periodic orbits may exist in a specific case.