Paper 1, Section I, 6C\mathbf{6 C}

Mathematical Biology
Part II, 2012

Krill is the main food source for baleen whales. The following model has been proposed for the coupled evolution of populations of krill and whales, with x(t)x(t) being the number of krill and y(t)y(t) being the number of whales:

dxdt=rx(1xK)axydydt=sy(1ybx)\begin{array}{r} \frac{d x}{d t}=r x\left(1-\frac{x}{K}\right)-a x y \\ \frac{d y}{d t}=s y\left(1-\frac{y}{b x}\right) \end{array}

where r,s,a,br, s, a, b and KK are positive constants.

Give a biological interpretation for the form of the two differential equations.

Show that a steady state is possible with x>0x>0 and y>0y>0 and write down expressions for the steady-state values of xx and yy.

Determine whether this steady state is stable.