Spatiotemporal complexity in interacting wild and sterile mosquito populations
Spatiotemporal complexity in interacting wild and sterile mosquito populations
Tags: Modeling, Mosquitoes, Sterile insect technique (SIT)Mandal, G., Guin, L.N. & Chakravarty, S., Nonlinear Dyn, 2025.
In the present exploration, a mosquito population model is investigated that incorporates a non-linear, saturated release rate for sterile mosquitoes. The model framework leverages a reaction-diffusion system to generate spatiotemporal patterns. A thorough theoretical analysis is conducted to explore the model’s feasible equilibria, focusing on the phenomenon of bistability. Subsequently, the stability, instability, and potential bifurcation scenarios are examined rigorously. Each identified bifurcation is then utilized to elucidate the complex dynamical behaviour of the system. The entire parameter space is systematically partitioned by simultaneously varying two key parameters. This partitioned space can then be further analyzed in conjunction with one and two-parameter bifurcation diagrams. This approach facilitates a deeper understanding of the system’s dynamics within each identified region. In two dimensions (2D), the evolution of diffusion-driven pattern formation is presented for various scenarios, including spots, stripes, labyrinthine structures, combinations of stripes and holes, and hole replication. These spatial patterns are demonstrated to be influenced by critical system factors associated with the concept of Turing space. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the number of wild offspring produced per mating event is the most sensitive parameter within the model. Moreover, the present investigation admits dynamical codimension one and two bifurcations concerning the induced most sensitive parameter. The theoretical findings are consistently validated and corroborated by numerical simulations, which are further employed to evaluate the biological implications of the theoretical results.
