Abstract
This research deals with formulating a multi-species eco-epidemiological mathematical model when the interacting species compete for the same food sources and the prey species have some infection. It is assumed that infection does not spread vertically. Infectious diseases severely affect the population dynamics of prey and predator. One of the most important factors in population dynamics is the movement of species in the habitat in search of resources or protection. The ecological influences of diffusion on the population density of both species are studied. The study also deals with the analysis of the effects of diffusion on the fixed points of the proposed model. The fixed points of the model are sorted out. The Lyapunov function is constructed for the proposed model. The fixed points of the proposed model are analyzed through the use of the Lyapunov stability criterion. It is proved that coexisting fixed points remain stable under the effects of self-diffusion, whereas, in the case of cross-diffusion, Turing instability exists conditionally. Moreover, a two-stage explicit numerical scheme is constructed, and the stability of the said scheme is found by using von Neumann stability analysis. Simulations are performed by using the constructed scheme to discuss the model's phase portraits and time-series solution. Many scenarios are discussed to display the present study's significance. The impacts of the transmission parameter gamma and food resource f on the population density of species are presented in plots. It is verified that the availability of common food resources greatly influences the dynamics of such models. It is shown that all three classes, i.e., the predator, susceptible prey and infected prey, can coexist in the habitat, and this coexistence has a stable nature. Hence, in the realistic scenarios of predator-prey ecology, the results of the study show the importance of food availability for the interacting species.