Contributed Session 3:  Modeling, Math Biology and Math Finance
Fear induced coexistence in eco-epidemiological systems with infected prey
Rajesh Das
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
India
  Co-Author(s):    Sourav Kumar Sasmal
  Abstract:
 

We examine an eco-epidemiological predator-prey model that incorporates both fear-induced behavioral changes and infectious disease in the prey species. Though predators attack both prey classes at the same rates, they benefit more energetically from consuming the susceptible prey than the infected prey population. Susceptible and infected prey are assumed to compete equally for shared resources. Polar blow-up and time-scale desingularization approaches are used to analyze the singularity introduced at the extinction equilibrium by frequency-dependent disease transmission. A linear functional response is used to describe interactions between predators and prey for mathematical simplicity. Our main objective is to assess the impact of fear of predation on system outcomes. Analytical and numerical results show that fear can promote the coexistence of all three populations through either stable equilibria or sustained oscillations. These coexistence outcomes remain robust when assumptions on prey competition and predation rates are relaxed and persist under the inclusion of positive density dependence via an Allee effect.