The predation strategy for predators and the avoidance strategy of prey are important topics in ecology and evolutionary biology. Both prey and predators adjust their behaviours in order to gain the maximal benefits and to increase their biomass for each. In the present paper, we consider a modified Leslie-Gower predator-prey model where predators cooperate during hunting and due to fear of predation risk, prey populations show anti-predator behaviour. We investigate step by step the impact of hunting cooperation and fear effect on the dynamics of the system. We observe that in the absence of fear effect, hunting cooperation can induce both supercritical and subcritical Hopf- bifurcations. It is also observed that fear factor can stabilize the predator-prey system by excluding the existence of periodic solutions and makes the system more robust compared to hunting cooperation. Moreover, the system shows two different types of bi-stabilities behaviour: one is between coexisting equilibrium and limit cycle oscillation, and another is between prey-free equilibrium and coexisting equilibrium. We also observe generalized Hopf-bifurcation and Bogdanov-Takens bifurcation in two parameter bifurcation analysis. We perform extensive numerical simulations for supporting evidence of our analytical findings.

In the present article, we investigate the impact of fear effect in a predator–prey model, where predator–prey interaction follows Beddington–DeAngelis functional response. We consider that due to fear of predator the birth rate of prey population reduces. Mathematical properties, such as persistence, equilibria analysis, local and global stability analysis, and bifurcation analysis, have been investigated. We observe that an increase in the cost of fear destabilizes the system and produces periodic solutions via supercritical Hopf bifurcation. However, with further increase in the strength of fear, system undergoes another Hopf bifurcation and becomes stable. The stability of the Hopf-bifurcating periodic solutions is obtained by computing the first Lyapunov coefficient. Our results suggest that fear of predation risk can have both stabilizing and destabilizing effects.

In the present paper, we investigate the impact of time delay during cooperative hunting in a predator–prey model. We consider that cooperative predators do not aggregate in a group instantly, but individuals use different stages and strategies such as tactile, visual, vocal cues, or a suitable combination of these to communicate with each other. We observe that delay in hunting cooperation has stabilizing as well as destabilizing effects in the system. Also, for an increase in the strength of the delay, the system dynamics switch multiple times and eventually become chaotic. We see that depending on the threshold of time delay, the system may restore its original state or may go far away from its original state and unable to recollect its memory. Furthermore, we explore the dynamics of the system in different bi-parameter spaces and observe that for a particular range of other parameter values, the system dynamics switch multiple times with an increase of delay in all the planes. Different kinds of multistability behaviors, the coexistence of multiple attractors, and interesting changes in the basins of attraction of the system are also observed. We infer that depending on the initial population size and the strength of cooperation delay, the populations can exhibit stable coexistence, oscillating coexistence, or extinction of the predator species.

Classical predator–prey models usually emphasize direct predation as the primary means of interaction between predators and prey. However, several field studies and experiments suggest that the mere presence of predators nearby can reduce prey density by forcing them to adopt costly defensive strategies. Adoption of such kind would cause a substantial change in prey demography. The present paper investigates a predator–prey model in which the predator’s consumption rate (described by a functional response) is affected by both prey and predator densities. Perceived fear of predators leads to a drop in prey’s birth rate. We also consider both constant and time-varying (seasonal) forms of prey’s birth rate and investigate the model system’s respective autonomous and nonautonomous implementations. Our analytical studies include finding conditions for the local stability of equilibrium points, the existence, direction of Hopf bifurcation, etc. Numerical illustrations include bifurcation diagrams assisted by phase portraits, construction of isospike and Lyapunov exponent diagrams in bi-parametric space that reveal the rich and complex dynamics embedded in the system. We observe different organized periodic structures within the chaotic regime, multistability between multiple pairs of coexisting attractors with intriguing basins of attractions. Our results show that even relatively slight changes in system parameters, perturbations, or environmental fluctuations may have drastic consequences on population oscillations. Our observations indicate that the fear effect alters the system dynamics significantly and drives an otherwise irregular system toward regularity.