A Generalist Predator-Based Ecoepidemic Model for the Consequences of Selective Predation and Harvesting

The current study examines the effects of additional food for predators, the harvesting of infected prey and predators, and the food preferences of predators in a predator-prey system within an ecological community where the infection is limited to the prey. By accounting for the effects of environmental white noises on the growth rate of susceptible prey as well as the death rates of infected prey and predator populations, we extend our deterministic system to its stochastic version. The findings of our simulation demonstrate the destabilizing effects of predators’ feeding preferences, the harvesting of infected prey, and alternative food sources for the predator species. Conversely, the disease prevalence and harvesting of predator species potentially suppress the limit cycle oscillations and bring forth stability in the ecosystem. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that the dynamics of the stochastic system shift from oscillations surrounding the coexistence of prey and predator to the extinction of either or both of the species in the ecosystem when the strength of the white noise increases.