Necessary and sufficient conditions for permanence and global stability of a Lotka-Volterra system with two delays (Q1304699)

The authors consider the following symmetrical Lotka-Volterra-type predator-prey system with delays (1): \[ \begin{aligned} x'(t)&=x(t)[r_1+ax(t)+\alpha x(t-\tau_1)-\beta y(t-\tau_2)], \\ y'(t)&=y(t)[r_2+ay(t)+\beta x(t-\tau_1)+\alpha y(t-\tau_2)],\end{aligned} \] where \(a<0,\alpha,\beta,r_1,r_2,\tau_1,\) and \(\tau_2\) are constants. System (1) is assumed to have a positive equilibrium \((x^*,y^*)\), \(x^*>0\), \(y^*>0\). The paper presents necessary and sufficient conditions for the permanence and the global asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium. The permanence means that there exists some compact ``trapping'' set \(D\) in the interior of \(\mathbb{R}_+^2\), i.e. such that any solution to (1) will ultimately stay in \(D\), provided initial conditions are chosen as continuous nonnegative functions \(\phi(s)\), \(\psi(s)\), \(-\tau_{1,(2)}\leq s \leq 0\), \(\psi(0)>0\), and \(\phi(0)>0\). Two theorems are proved: (T1) System (1) is permanent for all \(\tau_1\geq 0\) and \(\tau_2\geq 0\) if and only if \(a+\alpha <0\) holds. (T2) The positive equilibrium \((x^*,y^*)\) is globally asymptotically stable for all \(\tau_1\geq 0\) and \(\tau_2\geq 0\) if and only if \(\sqrt{\alpha^2+\beta^2}\leq -a\) holds.