Two models for competition between age classes

We consider two lumped age-structured models of juvenile against adult competition, one of which is a compartmental ordinary differential equation (ODE) model and one of which is a system of ODEs with delay derived from the McKendrick partial differential equation (PDE) model. Existence and stability of positive equilibria and existence of oscillatory solutions of both models are studied. Using a competition parameter, which measures the intra-specific competition, we investigate the effects of the competitive interactions between juveniles and adults on the dynamics of the population for both models. We find that these effects are different for the two models and discuss the differences from the modeling perspective. The discussion reveals an interesting relation between the length of the maturation period and the vital ratesʹ dependence on the competition parameter.