Analysis and simulation of numerical schemes for nonlinear hyperbolic predator–prey models with spatial diffusion

Departing from a two-dimensional parabolic system that describes the spatial dynamics in a predator–prey system with Michaelis–Menten-type functional response, we investigate a general form of that model using a finite-difference approach. The model under investigation is a hyperbolic nonlinear system consisting of two coupled partial differential equations with generalized reaction terms. We impose initial conditions on a closed and bounded rectangle, and a fully discrete finite-difference methodology is proposed. Among the most important results of this work, we establish analytically the existence and uniqueness of discrete solutions, along with the second-order consistency of our scheme. Moreover, a discrete form of the energy method is employed to prove the stability and the quadratic convergence of the technique. Some numerical simulations obtained through our method show the appearance of Turing patterns in the parabolic case, in agreement with some reports found in the literature. Moreover, our simulations also show that Turing patterns are present in the hyperbolic scenario.