Competition in the presence of a virus in an aquatic system: an SIS model in the chemostat (Q455727)

In this comprehensive paper, the authors discuss the dynamics of the following model, which involves two species that compete for nutrient in a chemostat in the presence of a virus, \[ \begin{aligned} S^\prime (t)&=(S^0-S(t))D-\frac{\alpha _sx_s(t)S(t)}{\eta _s}-\frac{\alpha _Ix_I(t)S(t)}{\eta _I}-\frac{\alpha _yy(t)S(t)}{\eta _y},\\ x_s^\prime (t)&=x_s(t)(-D_s+\alpha _sS(t))-\delta x_s(t)x_I(t)+\gamma x_I(t),\\ x_I^\prime (t)&=x_I(t)(-D_I+\alpha _IS(t))+\delta x_s(t)x_I(t)-\gamma x_I(t),\\ y^\prime (t)&=y(t)(-D_y+\alpha _yS(t)).\end{aligned} \] One species, \(x\), is susceptible to a viral disease, its population being divided into two subpopulations, susceptibles and infectives, whose densities at time \(t\) are denoted by \(x_S(t)\) and \(x_I(t)\), respectively. The other species, \(y\), is not susceptible to a virus attack. The concentration of the nutrient at time \(t\) is denoted by \(S(t)\). The virus is not modelled explicitly, assuming instead that the virus requires a host to replicate. Both the full model and the subsystem that results when the resistant species \(y\) is absent are analyzed, criteria for the global stability of the disease-free and the endemic states are obtained. Persistence criteria for both subpopulations \(x_S\) and \(x_I\), as well as for the resistant population \(y\) are obtained. Persistence occurs either in the form of convergence to an asymptotically stable steady state or in the form of sustained oscillations, disease-induced or competition-induced. It is observed that the full model is a source of rich dynamics, as it may have multiple attracting endemic steady states or shows oscillatory behavior involving Hopf, saddle-node and homoclinic bifurcations.