Population dynamics in a Leslie–Gower predator–prey model with predator harvesting at high densities

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a Leslie–Gower predator–prey model in which the predator can only be captured when its population size exceeds a critical value; the mean growth rate of the prey in the absence of the predator is subject to a semi‐saturation rate that affects its birth curve, and the interaction between the two species is defined by a Holling II predation functional with alternative food for the predator. Since the proposed model is equivalent to a Filippov system, its mathematical analysis leads to a local study of the equilibria in each vector field corresponding to the proposed model, in addition to the study of the stability of its pseudo‐equilibria located on the curve separating the two vector fields. In particular, the model could have between one and three pseudo‐equilibria and at least one limit cycle surrounding one or two inner equilibria, locally unstable points.