From rice fields to wheat fields: modeling the effects of herbivore and predator vitality on crop yields

The idea of agricultural intensification is what defines modern agriculture in that it uses technological advances in order to increase productivity. The goal of this project was to examine through mathematical modeling how agricultural intensification through driving herbivore-predator interactions can be beneficial or harmful to plant growth. In this study we used a tri-trophic Lotka-Volterra based model to investigate the overall plant-herbivore-predator interactions. From this model we were able to establish patterns that affect crop supply as well as investigate other plant-herbivore-predator interactions. The equations are very general and therefore can be applied to variety of situations.