Optimal Control for Lotka-Volterra Systems with a Hunter Population

Of concern is an ecosystem consisting of a herbivorous species and a carnivorous one. A hunter population is introduced in the ecosystem. Suppose that it acts only on the carnivorous species and that the number of the hunted individuals is proportional to the number of the existing individuals in the carnivorous population. We find the optimal control in order to maximize the total number of individuals (prey and predators) at the end of a given time interval. Some numerical experiments are also presented.