Local stability of a five dimensional food chain model in the ocean

This paper discuss a food chain model on a microbiology ecosystem in the ocean, where predation process occurs. Four population growth rates are discussed, namely bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and protozoa growth rate. When the growth of nutrient density is also considered, the model is governed by a five dimensional dynamical system. The system considered in this paper is a modification of a model proposed by Hadley and Forbes [1], by taking Holling Type I as the functional response. For sake of simplicity, the model needs to be scaled. Dynamical behavior, such as existence condition of equilibrium points and their local stability are addressed. There are eight equilibrium points, where two of them exist under certain conditions. Three equilibrium points are unstable, while two points stable under certain conditions and the other three points are stable if the Ruth-Hurwitz criteria are satisfied. Numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate analytical findings.