Section 1- Variables and Parameters
What is the system we are examining?
This system models a predator-prey situation in which
the prey species is
subdivided into adult and children populations. The purpose of this system is
to investigate the effect of child care on a predator-prey situation. It is
assumed that the adults are able to protect the children from the predators
and therefore only the adult portion of the species is preyed upon. We will
proceed to investigate what happens to such a system over a long period of
time.
System:
- c' = ba - gc - dc
- a' = gc - da- uay
- y' = - ny + uay
Variables:
- a = number of adults (prey)
- c = number of children (prey)
- y = number of predators
- x = a + c = number of prey
Parameters:
- b = birth rate of prey (related to: a)
- g = growing up rate of prey (related to: c)
- d = death rate of prey (related to: a and c)
- u = predation rate (related to: a and y)
- n = net death rate of predators (related to: y)
b,g,d,n,u > 0 in all cases
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About The Authors