Cannibalism in a seasonal environment

A hierarchical model based on size structuring is considered to study the dynamics of a population practicing cannibalism in a periodically changing environment. It is assumed that cannibals kill victims of smaller size as a source of additional energy. Some properties of cannibalism are studied analytically and numerically under the assumption that the resource is periodic in time. Among other important properties of cannibalism, its life boat mechanism is shown to operate under periodic environment. Moreover, under some conditions, the life-boat effect of cannibalism in preventing the population from extinction is shown to be stronger in a seasonally varying environment than it is in a nonseasonal environment.