LAUSR

This paper considers plant–pollinator–herbivore systems where the plant produces food for the pollinator, the pollinator provides pollination service for the plant in return, while the herbivore consumes both the food and the plant itself without providing pollination service. Based on these resource–consumer interactions, we form a plant–pollinator–herbivore model which includes the intermediary food. Using qualitative method and Kuznetsov theorem, we show global dynamics of the subsystems, uniform persistence of the whole system and periodic oscillation by Hopf bifurcation. Rigorous analysis on the system demonstrates mechanisms by which varying parameters could make the system transition between extinction of herbivore, coexistence of the three species at steady states, coexistence in periodic oscillations and extinction of pollinator. It is shown that (i) in plant–pollinator interactions, the plant would produce food; (ii) in plant–herbivore interactions, the plant would produce toxin; (iii) in the presence of both pollinator and herbivore, the plant would produce both food and toxin, and intermediate productions are analytically given by which the plant can reach its maximal density; and (iv) an appropriate toxin production could drive the herbivore into extinction, an unappropriate one would drive the pollinator into extinction, while too much toxin production will drive the plant itself into extinction. The analysis leads to explanations for experimental observations and provides new insights.