A predator-prey model with age-structured role reversal

Abstract: We propose a predator-prey model with an age-structured predator population that exhibits a functional role reversal. The structure of the predator population in our model embodies the ecological concept of an "ontogenetic niche shift", in which a species' functional role changes as it grows. This structure adds complexity to our model but increases its biological relevance. The time evolution of the age-structured predator population is motivated by the Kermack-McKendrick Renewal Equation (KMRE). Unlike KMRE, the predator population's birth and death rate functions depend on the prey population's size. We establish the existence, uniqueness, and positivity of the solutions to the proposed model's initial value problem. The dynamical properties of the proposed model are investigated via Latin Hypercube Sampling in the 15-dimensional space of its parameters. Our Linear Discriminant Analysis suggests that the most influential parameters are the maturation age of the predator and the rate of consumption of juvenile predators by the prey. We carry out a detailed study of the long-term behavior of the proposed model as a function of these two parameters. In addition, we reduce the proposed age-structured model to ordinary and delayed differential equation (ODE and DDE) models. The comparison of the long-term behavior of the ODE, DDE, and the age-structured models with matching parameter settings shows that the age structure promotes the instability of the Coexistence Equilibrium and the emergence of the Coexistence Periodic Attractor.