Habitat Complexity, Stochasticity and the Stability of Predator-Prey Interactions

Numerous theoretical studies on predator-prey dynamics have been studied where the habitat is free of complexity. But empirical and experimental results suggest that habitat complexity plays significant role in the predator-prey dynamics. On the other hand, most of the theoretical models in ecology are studied under unvarying deterministic environment though the characterizing parameters of real environments exhibit random fluctuations. In this paper, we study a colour noise-induced predator-prey system where the interaction between prey and predator occurs in a habitat with structural complexity. Spectral density analysis indicates that the system is stochastically stable and lies within the tolerance interval at the intermediate degree of habitat complexity. The qualitative behaviors of the model system have been demonstrated with the data of Paramecium aurelia (prey) and Didinium nasutum (predator) interaction.