Dynamics of a predator-prey system with multiple predation strategies

Predator foraging behavior includes hunting, scavenging, and stealing. Despite a wealth of literature about predator-prey dynamics, studies with different predator behavioral modalities are rare. We use non-linear dynamics to understand how populations evolve in predator-prey systems with multiple predator behaviors. Predator-prey interactions are summarized by coupled differential equations describing predator and prey population fluxes. The predator population is described by a single variable while the prey population is described by three – alive prey, prey being eaten by predators and is available for stealing, and dead prey available for scavenging. The size of each prey group serves as a proxy for the proportion of the relevant predator behavior. Fixed point analysis yields two trivial and one non-trivial fixed point, and the latter depends on predator death rate, prey growth rate, and relative strengths of different predator-prey interactions. Numerical simulations yield at least three distinct families of solutions depending on interaction strengths between prey types and predator – i.e., the system has multiple bifurcations. Finally, we show that hunting is more prevalent than scavenging or stealing.