Study of effects of toxicants and acidity on oxygen-dependent aquatic population: a mathematical model

Abstract

The rapidly elevating contamination of water bodies is one of the present-day critical problems occurring worldwide. It is a well-determined fact that the direct discharge of household wastes, industrial effluents, chemicals, acids and other pollutants into water bodies along with eutrophication are degrading the water quality. Washing-off of land pollutants in water bodies coupled with acid rain further increase the toxicity and acidity of water. These phenomena are leading to decrease of dissolved oxygen in water which is endangering the growth and survival of populations residing in water. To investigate the stress of increasing toxicity and acidity of water bodies like ponds, lakes and rivers on the aquatic population due to decrease in dissolved oxygen, a nonlinear mathematical model is proposed. The model is analysed and the stability conditions are derived in terms of the parameters. To substantiate the analytical results, numerical simulations are carried out using MATLAB.