How Can Viruses Affect the Growth of Zooplankton on Phytoplankton in a Chemostat?

In this work, we investigated a simple mathematical model describing the consumption of virus-infected phytoplankton by zooplankton in a chemostat. The system was studied by calculating the basic reproduction number, the equilibrium points, and their local and global stability. A sensitivity analysis was used to identify key chemostat factors that significantly affected the aquatic system. Additionally, we considered an optimal strategy based on the use of the dilution rate as an operating parameter that helps maintain the ecological balance of the aquatic food web.