Global attractor of coupled difference equations and applications to Lotka-Volterra systems (Q2570021)

The paper deals with a coupled system of nonlinear difference equations of the form \[ \begin{aligned} u_n &= u_{n-1} + kf^{(1)}(u_n,v_n,u_{n-s_1},v_{n-s_2}),\\ v_n &= v_{n-1} + kf^{(2)}(u_n,v_n,u_{n-s_1},v_{n-s_2}), \end{aligned}\tag{1} \] where \(n=1,2,\dots,\) \(f^{(1)}\) and \(f^{(2)}\) are nonlinear functions, \(k\) is a positive constant, \(s_1\) and \(s_2\) are positive integers. The existence and uniqueness of solutions of positive initial value problems for (1) are shown. Comparison theorems for (1) with quasi-monotone functions \(f^{(1)}, f^{(2)}\) are proved. Using these theorems, the author investigates the asymptotic behavior of solutions of (1) and gives conditions for global attractivity of unique positive equilibrium solution. The global attraction properties are applied to three types (cooperative, competitive, and predator-prey) of discrete Lotka-Volterra systems with time delays.