ctober 9, 2007 43 Journal of Biological Dynamics NewStoi Journal of Biological Dynamics Vol.pdf

October 9, 2007 4:3 Journal of Biological Dynamics NewStoi Journal of Biological Dynamics Vol. 00, No. 00, January-March 200x, 1–11 Dynamics of a mechanistically derived stoichiometric producer-grazer model Hao Wang ??, Yang Kuang ? and Irakli Loladze ? ? Department of Mathematics, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ 85287-1804 ? Department of Mathematics, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0323 (v1.0 released July 2007) One of the simplest predator-prey models that tracks the quantity and the quality of prey is the one proposed by Loladze, Kuang and Elser (2000) (LKE model). In it, the ratio of two essential chemical elements, carbon to phosphorus, C:P, represents prey quality. However, that model does not explicitly track P neither in the prey nor in the media that supports the prey. Here, we extend the LKE model by mechanistically deriving and accounting for P in both the prey and the media. Bifurcation diagrams and simulations show that our model behaves similarly to the LKE model. However, in the intermediate range of the carrying capacity, especially near the homoclinic bifurcation point for the carrying capacity, quantitative behavior of our model is different. We analyze positive invariant region and stability of boundary steady states. We show that as the uptake rate of P by producer becomes infinite, LKE models becomes the limiting case of our model. Furthermore, our model can be readily extended to multiple producers and consumers. Keywords: stoichiometry, Droop model, logistic equation, producer-grazer model, phosphorus uptake. AMS Subject Classification: 92D25 and 34C60 1. Introduction Ecological stoichiometry is the study of the balance of energy (carbon) and multiple chemical elements (phosphorus, nitrogen, etc.) in ecological interactions (Sterner and Elser 2002). All organisms are composed of these elements. The relative abundances of them vary considerably among species and across trophic levels; hence, this chemical heterogeneity a