Dynamics of a predator–prey system with sublethal effects of pesticides on pests and natural enemies

Abstract

Considering the influence of sublethal concentration of pesticides on pests and natural enemies, we propose a pest-management model with impulsive effect on chemical control and biological control strategies–periodic spraying pesticide and releasing predatory natural enemies. By using the Floquet theory and the comparison theorem of impulsive differential equations, a sufficient condition for the global asymptotic stability of the pest-eradication periodic solution is obtained. The persistence of the system is further studied, and a sufficient condition for the persistence of the system is obtained. Finally, some numerical simulations are shown to verify our theoretical works. Our works indicate that the sublethal effects of insecticides and the release of predatory natural enemies play significant roles in pest control in agricultural production.