Impact of Harvesting Intervention and Additional Food on Natural Enemy-Pest Dynamics in Agro-ecosystem

Abstract

The present study investigates the dynamics of natural enemy (predator)-pest (prey) interactions in an agroecosystem. It focuses on the impacts of providing additional food to natural enemies and harvesting intervention on pest populations. A thorough mathematical and numerical analysis is performed to explore various existing equilibria as trivial, natural enemy free and species coexistence. The assessments also explore the emergence of different bifurcations such as saddle-node, transcritical, and Hopf bifurcation. The effct of harvesting rate and additional food on pests and natural enemy populations are highlighted through numerical simulations. The findings indicate that the system’s multiple equilibria, their stability, and various bifurcations are outcomes of changes in harvesting rates and the availability of additional food. This work offers theoretical insights into biological control initiatives, highlighting specific critical values for imposed harvesting. It also suggests optimal strategies for supplying additional food to effectively manage pest populations. This work concludes that making an arbitrary choice of additional food and harvesting could yield entirely contrary outcomes, potentially resulting in an escalation of pest concentrations and the elimination of the natural enemy.