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A Simpler Lotka-Volterra Model Under Microplastic Particles Influence
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"Researchers proposed a simplified Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model to describe how microplastic particle accumulation alters population dynamics, identifying key time constants related to faster microplastic buildup in predators than in prey. This mathematical framework helps ecologists predict how microplastic contamination propagates up food webs, which ultimately informs estimates of human exposure through consumption of top-predator seafood species."
The global increase in consumption of plastics has caused serious environmental problems. When discarded in nature, these materials degrade into microplastic particles, which have spread around the world and caused serious harm to different ecosystems. For instance, their presence in living organisms can alter predator-prey dynamics. Huang et al. [1] successfully applied a modified Lotka-Volterra model to study the impact of microplastic particles on population dynamics of predators and preys. Here, we propose to simplify their model, reducing its number of parameters without compromising its descriptive and predictive power. Also, we used time-varying intraspecific coefficients and solved analytically particular situations characterized by extreme effects on predatory performance, in addition to assigning a different meaning to the parameters removed from the original model. In addition, we have presented two important characteristic times related to the faster accumulation of microplastic particles in predators than in prey. This simpler description should be used to avoid misleading comparison between systems with microplastic particles and the ones free of them.
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