title: Evidence of chaos in eco-epidemic models.
abstract: We study an eco-epidemic model with two trophic levels in which the dynamics are determined by predator-prey interactions as well as the vulnerability of the predator to a disease. Using the concept of generalized models we show that for certain classes of eco-epidemic models quasiperiodic and chaotic dynamics are generic and likely to occur. This result is based on the existence of bifurcations of higher codimension such as double Hopf bifurcations. We illustrate the emergence of chaotic behavior with one example system.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Nöthnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany. stiefs@icbm.de
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stiefs
authors.forename: Ezio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Venturino
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Feudel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017753:Ecosystem; D020387:Food Chain; D006801:Humans; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D008954:Models, Biological; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D011235:Predatory Behavior