A two-patch prey-predator model with food-gathering activity (Q2251749)

The authors construct a conceptual framework of multi-patch predator-prey interactions with mobile, immobile, searching and handling states based on a version of the Holling time budget argument which includes migration. In this approach, the dispersal of predators between patches depends of the probability that they are in a mobile state. The influence of several foraging parameters is considered, numerically and analytically, noticing that the ratios of probabilities that a predator is mobile in searching and handling food, respectively, for each patch, are the most important ones. Very low or very high values of these ratios are observed to have the tendency to amplify the fluctuations of the system and to lead to long-term instability. The sensitivity of the dynamics with respect to the handling time and to the carrying capacity is also discussed. Although the patches are considered identical for the analytical argument, numerical simulations are performed considering that one of the patches has a variable carrying capacity, while the carrying capacity of the other one is fixed. For patches with different carrying capacities, it is observed that the use of predator and prey control measures may introduce delayed feedback and generate oscillations in both populations sizes. Several ecological implications of these results, towards metapopulation theory and integrated pest management, are presented. Regarding metapopulation theory, it is observed that low predator migration leads to coexistence with high fluctuations in the population sizes, while moderate to relatively high migration rates have the tendency to stabilize the system, but with asymmetric persistence. As far as integrated pest management is concerned, the authors conclude that growing crops in blocks with empty spaces or other crops in-between as barriers to insect dispersal is the most favorable approach, as deduced from numerical simulations.