Time-limited pest control of a Lotka–Volterra model with impulsive harvest.pdf

Nonlinear Analysis: Real World Applications 10 (2009) 840–848 /locate/nonrwa Time-limited pest control of a Lotka–Volterra model with impulsive harvest Hongjian Guo a,b,, Lansun Chena a Department of Applied Mathematics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, PR China b Department of Mathematics, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang 464000, PR China Received 26 July 2007; accepted 6 November 2007 Abstract A kind of time-limited pest control of a Lotka–Volterra model with impulsive harvest, described by the initial and boundary value problem of impulsive differential equation, is presented. The aim of pest control can be achieved if the model has a solution, otherwise the aim cannot be achieved. By the comparison principle, the conditions under which the model has a solution are found by a series of the upper solutions and the conditions under which the model has no solution are also given by a series of the lower solutions. Furthermore, if the other parameters are given, the times of harvesting pest in the given time is estimated. The theoretical results and the numerical simulations show that the density of the natural enemy will decrease when the pest decreases although the control measures to the pest do not directly affect the natural enemy. Finally, some discussions are given. c 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Impulsive control; Boundary value problem; Impulsive differential equation; Lotka–Volterra predator–prey model; Comparison principle; Upper and lower solution 1. Introduction Pest control plays an important role in agriculture because economi