https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-05171-6
Regular Article
Prey–predator realities: unveiling competition, cooperation, and shelter dynamics
Department of Physics, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, 110 007, Delhi, India
d
savinder@sgtbkhalsa.du.ac.in
Received:
16
February
2024
Accepted:
7
April
2024
Published online:
7
May
2024
In a more realistic scenario, we posit that certain predators engage in cooperative hunting of prey, all the while competing with other predators and occasionally causing fatal harm to one another. It is assumed that prey employ various strategies, including camouflage and concealment, to evade predators. The competition among the predators is considered the bifurcation parameter to analyze the equilibrium states and their characteristics, encompassing phenomena like saddle-node bifurcation, Hopf bifurcation, and the Hydra effect. Our primary focus is to examine how the dynamics of the system are influenced by prey seeking shelter and predator cooperation. Prey shelter effectively conceals a segment of its population from predators, reducing the critical point for outbreak occurrence and heightening vulnerability to outbreaks at lower prey population levels. The addition of cooperation reduces the peak predator population, necessitating increased competition and altering equilibrium thresholds.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
