Protection zone in a diffusive predator-prey model with Beddington-DeAngelis functional response

Abstract: In any reaction-diffusion system of predator-prey models, the population densities of species are determined by the interactions between them, together with the influences from the spatial environments surrounding them. Generally, the prey species would die out when their birth rate is too low, the habitat size is too small, the predator grows too fast, or the predation pressure is too high. To save the endangered prey species, some human interference is useful, such as creating a protection zone where the prey could cross the boundary freely but the predator is prohibited from entering. This paper studies the existence of positive steady states to a predator-prey model with reaction-diffusion terms, Beddington-DeAngelis type functional response and non-flux boundary conditions. It is shown that there is a threshold value $\theta_0$ which characterizes the refuge ability of prey such that the positivity of prey population can be ensured if either the prey's birth rate satisfies $\theta\geq\theta_0$ (no matter how large the predator's growth rate is) or the predator's growth rate satisfies $\mu\le 0$, while a protection zone $\Omega_0$ is necessary for such positive solutions if $\theta<\theta_0$ with $\mu>0$ properly large. The more interesting finding is that there is another threshold value $\theta^=\theta^(\mu,\Omega_0)<\theta_0$, such that the positive solutions do exist for all $\theta\in(\theta^*,\theta_0)$. Letting $\mu\rightarrow\infty$, we get the third threshold value $\theta_1=\theta_1(\Omega_0)$ such that if $\theta>\theta_1(\Omega_0)$, prey species could survive no matter how large the predator's growth rate is. In addition, we get the fourth threshold value $\theta_$ for negative $\mu$ such that the system admits positive steady states if and only if $\theta>\theta_$.