Code dataset for exploring the regime shift in the interaction between domestic cattle and the deer-tiger food chain

The effects of domestic cattle grazing on wildlife have received considerable attention. Depending on factors such as its intensity and duration, such grazing can impact higher-level species (especially large carnivores) along the food chain. However, except for the well-studied effects of grazing on vegetation productivity and on ungulates, which are direct competitors, relatively few studies have investigated whether there are tipping points at which grazing intensity begins to seriously impact wildlife. In particular, studies that assess the impact of overgrazing on food chains that include carnivores remain scarce. We developed a temporally dynamic, age-structured model for the sika deer-Amur tiger trophic chain, including cattle grazing as a disturbance. We explored 1) the impact of cattle grazing intensity on the regime behaviour of the wildlife population; 2) the effect of demographic parameters on population viability; and 3) the temporally dynamic impact of periods of heavy grazing on the population trajectory. This dataset is the code used for this study.