Dynamics of a periodic switched pest management model under the influence of fear effect

Abstract

Pest management in agroecosystems requires balancing ecological sustainability. Our study pioneers a novel pest management model with fear effect, which dynamically switches between group defense and Ivlev-type functional responses, incorporating impulsive nonlinear release strategies and constant release strategies. This computational framework simulates pest population dynamics under combined biological and chemical control regimes. The model incorporates stage-specific dynamics, distinguishing between high-density and low-density stages of the pest, while synchronizing pulsed actions such as chemical treatments with the cycle of biological manipulation. Using theories of impulsive differential equations, we derive threshold conditions governing the global asymptotic stability of the pest-eradication periodic solution and the permanence of the system. Through numerical simulations we confirm the rationality of these conditions. Ultimately, our research demonstrates the importance of chemical versus biological control (relying on density and constant release of natural enemies) in different functional response-switching pest management models for the sustainability of agricultural resources, and our work provides new avenues for pest management.