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Abstract: In this paper, we develop a three-species intraguild predation model which incorporates refuges used by the resource and the intraguild prey, and focus on the effects of refuges on the three species coexistence. The invasion condition and parameter region for coexistence are obtained using invasion analysis. The new invasion condition requires that all boundary states with one missing species can be invaded by the missing species. Numerical simulations show that refuges have a major influence on species coexistence of intraguild predation system, and the results strongly depend on the types of refuges introduced into the model. Our study also shows that prey's refuges are detrimental to species coexistence except the resource using refuges. In contrast to previous research, we find that spatial structure may play an important role in effects of refuges on species coexistence of intraguild predation systems. Our results may shed new light on understanding the mechanisms and the persistence of multi-species predators-prey system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Cooperative stability of protein is here defined as the tendency for the oligomers to be more stable than their monomeric components and to perform their physiological functions. In this paper, we incorporate nonlinear degradation of protein induced by cooperative stability into a simple model which has been previously presented in the biological literature. Linear analysis gives a critical time delay beyond which a periodic solution is born in a Hopf bifurcation. Lindstedt’s method is applied to the nonlinear system, resulting in closed form approximate expressions for the amplitude and frequency of oscillation. Our findings indicate that cooperative stability can cause periodic dynamics through reducing the critical time delay. In addition, we show that cooperative stability may increase the amplitude of oscillation. Our study contributes to the theoretical demonstration of the effect of cooperative stability in the simple gene regulatory network. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The effects of rainfall and wind speed on the dynamics of suspended sediment concentration (SSC), during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, were analyzed using spatial statistical models. The results showed a positive effect of wind speed on SSC, and inconsistent effects (positive and negative) of rainfall on SSC. The effects of wind speed and rainfall on SSC weakened immediately around the tsunami, indicating tsunami-caused floods and earthquake-induced shaking may have suddenly disturbed the ocean–atmosphere interaction processes, and thus weakened the effects of wind speed and rainfall on SSC. Wind speed and rainfall increased markedly, and reached their maximum values immediately after the tsunami week. Rainfall at this particular week exceeded twice the average for the same period over the previous 4years. The tsunami-affected air–sea interactions may have increased both wind speed and rainfall immediately after the tsunami week, which directly lead to the variations in SSC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we derive and study an SIR epidemic model with constant infectious period which is incorporated as a time delay. Both trivial and endemic equilibrium are found, and their stability is investigated. Using Lyapunov functional approach, sufficient conditions for global stability of endemic equilibrium is obtained. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Spatial synchrony of oscillating populations has been observed in many ecological systems, and its influences and causes have attracted the interest of ecologists. Spatially correlated environmental noises, dispersal, and trophic interactions have been considered as the causes of spatial synchrony. In this study, we develop a spatially structured population model, which is described by coupled-map lattices and incorporates both dispersal and colored environmental noise. A method for generating time series with desired spatial correlation and color is introduced. Then, we use these generated time series to analyze the influence of noise color on synchrony in population dynamics. The noise color refers to the temporal correlation in the time series data of the noise, and is expressed as the degree of (first-order) autocorrelation for autoregressive noise. Patterns of spatial synchrony are considered for stable, periodic and chaotic population dynamics. Numerical simulations verify that environmental noise color has a major influence on the level of synchrony, which depends strongly on how noise is introduced into the model. Furthermore, the influence of noise color also depends on patterns of dispersal between local populations. In addition, the desynchronizing effect of reddened noise is always weaker than that of white noise. From our results, we notice that the role of reddened environmental noise on spatial synchrony should be treated carefully and cautiously, especially for the spatially structured populations linked by dispersal. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]