Narrow Results

In this paper, we proposed and analyzed a five-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations modeling the competition of two competing bacteria in a chemostat under the influence of the leachate recirculation and in the presence of a pathogen associated only with the bacteria 1. We suppose that the nutriment is present into two forms, soluble and insoluble nutriment, and both two forms are continuously added to the chemostat. The proposed model takes the form of an “SI” epidemic model and uses general increasing growth functions and general increasing incidence rate. It admits multiple equilibria that we give the conditions under which we assure both the existence and the local stability of each equilibrium point. The possibility of periodic trajectory was excluded, and the uniform persistence of both types of bacteria was proved. Finally, several numerical examples confirming the theoretical findings are given.

A system of reaction–diffusion equations is considered in the unstirred chemostat with an inhibitor. Global structure of the coexistence solutions and their local stability are established. The asymptotic behavior of the system is given as a function of the parameters, and it is determined when neither, one, or both competing populations survive. Finally, the results of some numerical simulations indicate that the global stability of the steady-state solutions is possible. The main tools for our investigations are the maximum principle, monotone method and global bifurcation theory.

In this paper, the asymptotical behavior of a chemostat model for E. coli and the virulent phage T4 is analyzed. The basic reproduction number R₀ is proved to be a threshold which determines the outcome of the virulent phage T4. If R₀ < 1, the virus dies out; if R₀ > 1, the virus persists. Sufficient conditions for the Hopf bifurcation are also established. The theoretical results show that increasing the input of nutrient will result in an increase in the equilibrium population density of the virulent bacteriophage T4, but will have no effect on the equilibrium population density of E. coli. The results also show that increasing the input of nutrient or increasing the average lytic time for the infected E. coli can destabilize the interaction between E. coli and T4.

We consider a chemostat model of phytoplankton competing for nitrogen taking into account effects of both intra- and interspecific crowding and the light limitation. We consider crowding as an additive density-dependent mortality rate. Crowding effects may be classified into intra- and interspecific crowding depending on whether the additional mortality is caused by the same or alternate species.

We analyze the existence and local and global stability of single species and coexistence equilibria using the linearization and stability method of Lyapunov. We present a numerical example illustrating the fact that the crowding effects may lead to the bistable coexistence of two phytoplankton species. We demonstrate that the crowding effects and the light limitation affect the outcome of exploitative competition for a single resource and promote coexistence. We also show that while the crowding has a stabilizing effect on phytoplankton community, the light limitation may destabilize the system and produce sustained oscillations.

A mathematical model of competition between plasmid-bearing and plasmid-free organisms for a single limiting resource in a chemostat with distinct removal rates and in the presence of an external inhibitor is analyzed. This model was previously introduced in the special case where the growth rate functions and the absorption rate of the inhibitor follow the Monod kinetics and the removal rates are the same as the dilution rate. Here, we consider the general case of monotonic growth and absorption functions, and distinct removal rates. Through the three operating parameters of the model, represented by the dilution rate, the input concentrations of the substrate and the inhibitor, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for existence and stability of all equilibria. To better understand the richness of the model’s behavior with respect to those operating parameters, we determine the operating diagram theoretically and numerically. This diagram is very useful to understand the model from both the mathematical and biological points of view.

This paper investigates the dynamics of a model of two chemostats connected by Fickian diffusion with bounded random fluctuations. We prove the existence and uniqueness of non-negative global solution as well as the existence of compact absorbing and attracting sets for the solutions of the corresponding random system. After that, we study the internal structure of the attracting set to obtain more detailed information about the long-time behavior of the state variables. In such a way, we provide conditions under which the extinction of the species cannot be avoided and conditions to ensure the persistence of the species, which is often the main goal pursued by practitioners. In addition, we illustrate the theoretical results with several numerical simulations.

In this paper, we first construct a microfluidic chemostat model for the growth of biofilms and planktonic populations with random dilution ratios and then investigate its dynamical behavior. Using the theory of monotone dynamical systems and the Multiplicative Ergodic Theorem, we show the existence of random attractors and stationary measures, and present Lyapunov exponents for the linearized cocycle with respect to the random model. Further on, if the top Lyapunov exponent is negative, we give the extinction of microbial populations, including the forward and pull-back trajectories.

Non-autonomous single-species growth chemostat models with general response functions are considered. In the models, the dilution rate and removal rate are allowed to be different from each other. A series of new criteria on the boundedness, permanence, persistence, average persistence and extinction of the population is established. In particular, when models degenerate into the almost periodic case, the equivalences of the permanence, persistence and average persistence of species are obtained. These results improve and extend some well-known corresponding results obtained in Refs. 1, 14 and 17.

In this paper, we consider a predator–prey chemostat model with ratio-dependent Monod type functional response and periodic input and washout at different fixed times. We obtain an exact periodic solution with substrate and prey. The stability analysis for this periodic solutions yields an invasion threshold for the period of pulses of the predator. When the impulsive period is more than the threshold, there are periodic oscillations in the substrate, prey, and predator. If the impulsive period further increases, the system undergoes a complex dynamic process. By analyzing bifurcation diagrams, we can see that the impulsive system shows two kinds of bifurcation, which are period-doubling and period-halving.

A model of competition between two organisms in the chemostat is studied in this paper, where it is assumed that the yield coefficients and growth rates are general functions of the nutrient concentration. We give a characterization of the outcome of this competition in terms of the relevant parameters in hyperbolic cases: conditions of the existence and local stability of the rest points are obtained, and the global asymptotic behavior of the solutions is analyzed. In contrast to the corresponding model with constant yields rate, it is demonstrated that the variability of the yield coefficient may lead to oscillatory coexistence of two microorganisms in continuous culture.

A competition model between two species with a lethal inhibitor in a chemostat is analyzed. Discrete delays are used to describe the nutrient conversion process. The proved qualitative properties of the solution are positivity, boundedness. By analyzing the local stability of equilibria, it is found that the conditions for stability and instability of the boundary equilibria are similar to those in [9]. In addition, the global asymptotic behavior of the system is discussed and the sufficient conditions for the global stability of the boundary equilibria are obtained. Moreover, by numerical simulation, it is interesting to find that the positive equilibrium may be globally stable.

A chemostat model with time delay, variable yield and ratio-dependent functional response is investigated. By analyzing the corresponding characteristic equations, the local stability of a boundary equilibrium and a positive equilibrium is discussed and the existence of Hopf bifurcation is established. By using the comparison arguments, sufficient conditions are obtained for the global stability of the boundary equilibrium. By constructing a suitable Lyapunov functional, sufficient conditions are derived for the global asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to illustrate the theoretical results.

In this paper, we consider a simple chemostat model with inhibitory exponential substrate uptake and a time delay. A detailed qualitative analysis about existence and boundedness of its solutions and the local asymptotic stability of its equilibria are carried out. Using Lyapunov–LaSalle invariance principle, we show that the washout equilibrium is global asymptotic stability for any time delay. Using the fluctuation lemma, the sufficient condition of the global asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium is obtained. Numerical simulations are also performed to illustrate the results.

We consider a model of the exploitative competition of two micro-organisms for two complementary nutrients in a chemostat and take into account the interspecific interaction. The growth functions occurring in the model are of general type and the interaction functions are monotonic and positive. By the mean of the Thieme–Zhao theorem, we establish conditions for uniform persistence of the model.

In this paper, a model of Beddington–DeAngelies chemostat involving two species of micro-organism competing for two perfectly complementary growth-limiting nutrients and pulsed input of toxicant in the polluted environment was studied. Using Floquet theory and small amplitude perturbation method, a conclusion was that there exists two-micro-organism eradication periodic solution and which is global asymptotical stability. At the same time, the condition of the permanence for system was obtained. From the biological point of view, the method for protecting species is to improve the amount of impulsive period, and control the amount of toxicant input to the chemostat. Finally, our results are illustrated by numerical simulations.

In this paper, I consider two species feeding on limiting substrate in a chemostat taking into account some possible effects of each species on the other one. System of differential equations is proposed as model of these effects with general inter-specific density-dependent growth rates. Three cases were considered. The first one for a mutual inhibitory relationship where it is proved that at most one species can survive which confirms the competitive exclusion principle. Initial concentrations of species have great importance in determination of which species is the winner. The second one for a food web relationship where it is proved that under general assumptions on the dilution rate, both species persist for any initial conditions. Finally, a third case dealing with an obligate mutualistic relationship was discussed. It is proved that initial condition has a great importance in determination of persistence or extinction of both species.

In this paper, a nonlocal delayed chemostat model of a single species feeding on a periodically varying input nutrient is proposed. By the theory of semigroup, the existence and uniqueness of solution of the system are obtained. Furthermore, we investigate a threshold result on the global dynamics, and the uniform persistence of the system is established.

The objective of this study is to analyze a model of competition for one resource in the chemostat with general interspecific density-dependent growth rates, taking into account the predator–prey relationship. This relationship is characterized by the fact that the prey species promotes the growth of the predator species which in turn inhibits the growth of the first species. The model is a three-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations. With the same dilution rates, the model can be reduced to a planar system where the two models have the same local and even global behavior. The existence and stability conditions of all steady states of the reduced model in the plane are determined according to the operating parameters. Using the nullcline method, we present a geometric characterization of the existence and stability of all equilibria showing the multiplicity of coexistence steady states. The bifurcation diagrams illustrate that the steady states can appear or disappear only through saddle-node or transcritical bifurcations. Moreover, the operating diagrams describe the asymptotic behavior of this system by varying the control parameters and show the effect of the inhibition of predation on the emergence of the bistability region and the reduction until the disappearance of the coexistence region by increasing this inhibition parameter.

This paper considers the production of biomass of two interconnected chemostats in series with biomass mortality and a growth kinetic of the biomass described by an increasing function. A comparison is made with the productivity of a single chemostat with the same mortality rate and with volume equal to the sum of the volumes of the two chemostats. We determine the operating conditions under which the productivity of the serial configuration is greater than the productivity of the single chemostat. Moreover, the differences and similarities in the results corresponding to the case with mortality and the one without mortality, are highlighted. The mortality leads to surprising results where the productivity of a steady state where the bacteria are washed out in the first chemostat is greater than the one where the bacteria are present in both chemostats.