On the dynamical behavior of some algal allelopathic competitions in chemostat-like environment (Q691664)

Consider the system \[ \begin{aligned} S'&=\Bigl(S^{(0)}-S\Bigr)D-f_1(S)e^{-\gamma p}{{N_1}\over {\eta_1}}-f_2(S){{N_2}\over {\eta_2}},\\ N_1'&=N_1\Bigl(f_1(S)e^{-\gamma p}-D\Bigr),\\ N_2'&=N_2\Bigl((1-kN_2)f_2(S)-D\Bigr),\\ p'&=kf_2(S)N_2^2-Dp, \end{aligned}\tag{1} \] where \[ f_1(S)={{m_1S}\over {a_1+S+h_1S^2}},\;\;f_2(S)={{m_2S}\over {a_2+S}}. \] This system describes the algal allelopathic competition between two populations, \(N_1\) and \(N_2\), the functions \(f_1\) and \(f_2\) are the functional responses of the two populations, \(S(t)\) is the nutrient concentration at time \(t\), \(p\) is the concentration of allelochemicals in the environment at time \(t\), \(\eta_1\) and \(\eta_2\) are the constant yields of populations \(N_1\) and \(N_2\), respectively, \(S^{(0)}\) is the constant input of the nutrient, \(D\) is the constant washout rate, \(m_i\) is the maximal specific growth rate of population \(N_i\), \(a_i\) is the half saturation constant of population \(N_i\), \(i=1, 2\), \(h_1={1\over {\sigma}}>0\), \(\sigma\) is the inhibition constant, \(\gamma>0\) is the measure of the inhibiting effect of allelochemicals, \(kN_2f_2(S)\) denotes the fraction of potential growth devoted to the allelochemicals production. The authors prove existence and uniqueness of boundary equilibria of system (1) and derive conditions for the parameters under which the equilibria are locally asymptotically stable, globally stable and unstable, respectively. The authors present numerical simulations, and in this way they show the complexity of the dynamics of system (1).