Effect of polluted soil on the growth dynamics of plant-herbivore system: a mathematical model (Q1022187)

A mathematical model is proposed to study the effect of soil pollution on the growth dynamics of plant-herbivore systems. In the model the plant biomass is divided into two compartments consisting of leaves and roots. In the modeling process, it has been assumed that the pollution in the soil causes damage to the root compartment, thereby destroying the substrates in the soil that causes damage to the root compartment and destroying the substrates in this compartment. Also it is assumed that the pollutant is being transferred from the root compartment to the leaf compartment which in turn adversely affects the substrates in this compartment also. Since the growth of plant biomass in both the compartments depend on the substrate concentration, the weight of the leaf and root compartments of plant biomass decrease on account of the polluted soil. A separate equation has been considered to study the dynamics of the herbivore population. A stability analysis of the two equilibrium points of the model has been conducted. From the stability of the positive equilibrium point it has been concluded that both the plant biomass and the herbivore population would co-exist but the equilibrium densities of these two populations will be reduced due to the presence of pollutants in the soil.