Food conversion efficiency and disease in intermediate predator stabilizes the chaotic dynamics in tri-trophic food chain with refugia and allee in prey species

In this study, we analyze a tri-trophic food chain model with disease circulating in an intermediate predator. Firstly, we observe the dynamics of the disease-free system by varying halfsaturation constant. Then we pay our attention to control the original system’s chaotic dynamics by varying the nutritional value and infection rate in the intermediate predator population. We obtain criteria for local stability and instability of the model system around the biologically feasible equilibria. Coexistence of equilibrium solutions under different conditions. We also consider refugia and allee in prey species of our model system. Our numerical results show that the system shows chaos for higher values of half-saturation constant.We also observe that chaotic dynamics can be prevented by increasing infection in intermediate predators. Also, the nutritional value is of great importance for controlling chaos in our model system.