Turing instabilities in prey-predator systems with dormancy of predators (Q2346897)

The most interesting feature of this article is an introduction of a third variable into the standard predator-prey system supplied with diffusion, namely, the dormant (resting, inactive) predators. Such an improvement is motivated by the consideration of a zooplankton/phytoplankton system, where predators can produce resting eggs during periods of uncomfortable living conditions. Correspondingly, their density (or biomass) \(w\) satisfies the ODE \[ w_t=k\nu (v)f(u)v-\alpha(u)w-n(w)w, \] where \(0<v<1\) gives a fraction of the produced dormant eggs by predators \(v\) with birth rate \(kf(u)\), \(u\) is the density (biomass) of preys, \(\alpha\) corresponds to the inverse average period of dormancy, and \(n\) is the mortality rate (a small quantity). The diffusion term is absent due to the quite inactive behaviour of the dormant eggs. It is shown analytically and confirmed by well-illustrated numerical simulations that this additional equation drastically changes the overall dynamics of the system. In particular, the dormancy of predators can induce the oscillatory Turing instability, which does occur in a two-component predator-prey reaction-diffusion system. This founding may provide an important insight into the origin of the dynamics of real plankton systems.