07:48
Calculus: Early Transcendentals
In Exercise 10 we modeled populations of aphids and ladybugs with a Lotka-Volterra system. Suppose we modify those equations as follows:
$ \frac {dA}{dt} = 2A(1 - 0.0001A) - 0.01AL $
$ \frac {dL}{dt} = -0.5L + 0.0001AL $
(a) In the absence of ladybugs, what does the model predict about the aphids?
(b) Find the equilibrium solutions?
(c) Find an expression for $ dL/dA. $
(d) Use a computer algebra system to draw a direction field for the differential equation in part (c). Then use the direction field to sketch a phase portrait. What do the phase trajectories have in common?
(e) Suppose that at time $ t = 0 $ there are 1000 aphids and 200 ladybugs. Draw the corresponding phase trajectory and use it to describe how both populations change.
(f) Use part (e) to make rough sketches of the aphid and ladybug populations as functions of $ t. $ How are the graphs related to each other?