Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/9/b/ii/solution
Past exam of the short options course of the University of Oxford 2023 9 b ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The non-axis nullclines are and . For , , the first has intercepts and the second has . Their axis intercept order rules out a positive intersection. Below the first line increases and above it decreases; below the second increases and above it decreases. Thus is a saddle point and is stable.
For strictly positive initial populations, both coordinates stay positive and are bounded above by their individual logistic equations. There are no interior periodic orbits: the Dulac function makes the divergence of the multiplied vector field , so the Bendixson-Dulac theorem applies. The stable manifold of is the invariant red-only axis, and is repelling. The phase portrait, or the Poincaré-Bendixson theorem with these boundary directions, therefore givesThe qualification matters: a grey population identically absent cannot drive extinction. In dimensional variables, positive grey presence leads to , in this no-hunting case.
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