We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Augmentative biocontrol when natural enemies are subject to Allee effects.
- Authors
Bajeux, Nicolas; Grognard, Frédéric; Mailleret, Ludovic
- Abstract
Intraspecific interactions such as Allee effects are key properties that can guide population management. This contribution considers component Allee effects that are elementary mechanisms leading to declines of fitness at the population scale, i.e. demographic Allee effects. It especially focuses on the consequences of such properties in predator populations, and investigates their repercussions in a biological control context. A modelling framework able to account for reproductive and/or foraging component Allee effects is proposed. From this, four models of augmentative biological control, corresponding to the periodic introduction of natural enemies, have been investigated. This is done using semi-discrete models: ordinary differential equations are used to depict predator-prey dynamics and a discrete equation describes the abrupt augmentation of predators at periodic intervals. In that context, stability of a prey-free solution corresponding to pest eradication has been analyzed. It has been found that rare but large introductions should be preferred over frequent and small ones, when Allee effects influence predator populations. In particular, the occurrence of foraging, rather than reproducing, Allee effects significantly hinders pest eradication. Cases where the pest-free solution is locally, but not globally, stable were also observed and were shown to be favored by the occurrence of reproductive Allee effects among predators.
- Subjects
PHYSIOLOGICAL control systems; MATHEMATICAL models; ALLEE effect; PREDATION; DENSITY dependence (Ecology); DIFFERENTIAL equations
- Publication
Journal of Mathematical Biology, 2017, Vol 74, Issue 7, p1561
- ISSN
0303-6812
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00285-016-1063-8