Bifurcation analysis in a diffusive phytoplankton–zooplankton model with harvesting

Abstract A diffusive phytoplankton–zooplankton model with nonlinear harvesting is considered in this paper. Firstly, using the harvesting as the parameter, we get the existence and stability of the positive steady state, and also investigate the existence of spatially homogeneous and inhomogeneous periodic solutions. Then, by applying the normal form theory and center manifold theorem, we give the stability and direction of Hopf bifurcation from the positive steady state. In addition, we also prove the existence of the Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation. These results reveal that the harvesting and diffusion really affect the spatiotemporal complexity of the system. Finally, numerical simulations are also given to support our theoretical analysis.