Dynamics of a discrete Rosenzweig–MacArthur predator–prey model with piecewise-constant arguments

This paper investigates the dynamics of a new discrete form of the classical continuous Rosenzweig–MacArthur predator–prey model and the biological implications of the dynamics. The discretization method used here is to modify the continuous model to another with piecewise-constant arguments and then to integrate the modified model, which is quite different from the traditional Euler discretization method. First, the existence and local stability of fixed points have been thoroughly discussed. Then, all codimension-1 bifurcations have been studied, including the transcritical bifurcations at the trivial fixed point and the boundary fixed point, and the Neimark–Sacker bifurcation at the unique positive fixed point. Furthermore, it is proved that there are no codimension-2 bifurcations. Finally, the control of the bifurcations is studied. Regarding the biological significance, we have considered the following four aspects: When no harvesting effort is applied to both predators and prey, it is observed that providing more resources to the prey species leads to predator extinction, causing the ecosystem to lose stability. This implies that the paradox of enrichment occurs. When predators are harvested, the system exhibits the hydra effect, i.e. increasing the harvesting effort on predators will lead to an increase in the mean population density of predators. When the prey is harvested, numerical examples indicate that increasing the harvesting effort initially reduces prey density. Upon reaching the bifurcation point, prey density stabilizes while the predator density continues to decline. When both prey and predators are harvested, the biological significance is similar to the previous case. The outcomes of this paper have significant theoretical meaning in the study of population ecology. By MATLAB, the bifurcation diagrams, maximal Lyapunov exponent diagrams, phase portraits and mean population density curves are plotted. Numerical simulations not only show the correctness of the theoretical findings but also reveal many new and interesting dynamics.