A discrete-time host-parasitoid model with an Allee effect

Abstract

We introduce a discrete-time host-parasitoid model with a strong Allee effect on the host. We adapt the Nicholson-Bailey model to have a positive density dependent factor due to the presence of an Allee effect, and a negative density dependence factor due to intraspecific competition. It is shown that there are two scenarios, the first with no interior fixed points and the second with one interior fixed point. In the first scenario, we show that either both host and parasitoid will go to extinction or there are two regions, an extinction region where both species go to extinction and an exclusion region in which the host survives and tends to its carrying capacity. In the second scenario, we show that either both host and parasitoid will go to extinction or there are two regions, an extinction region where both species go to extinction and a coexistence region where both species survive.

Keywords: 39A11; 92D25; Allee effect; coexistence; extinction; host; parasitoid; stability.