Publication Date

2011-07-22

Availability

Open access

Embargo Period

2011-07-22

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PHD)

Department

Mathematics (Arts and Sciences)

Date of Defense

2011-07-12

First Committee Member

Robert Stephen Cantrell

Second Committee Member

Chris Cosner

Third Committee Member

Shigui Ruan

Fourth Committee Member

Carol Horvitz

Abstract

A model of a three species intraguild predation community is proposed. The model is realized as a system of cross-diffusion equations which allow the intraguild prey species to adjust its motility based on local resource and intraguild predator densities. Solutions to the cross-diffusion system are shown to exist globally in time and the existence of a global attractor is proved. Abstract permanence theory is used to study conditions for coexistence in the ecological community. The case where the intraguild prey disperses randomly is compared to the case where the intraguild prey disperses conditionally on local ecological fitness and it is shown that the ability of the intraguild prey to persist in the ecological community is enhanced if the intraguild prey utilizes a movement strategy of avoiding areas with negative fitness. A finite element scheme is used to numerically simulate solutions to the system and confirm the analytical results.

Keywords

intraguild predation; cross-diffusion; fitness dependent; quasilinear; cross diffusion

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