Optimal Contraception Control for a Nonlinear Vermin Population Model with Size-Structure

This paper investigates the optimal contraception control for a nonlinear size-structured population model with three kinds of mortality rates: intrinsic, intra-competition and female sterilant. First, we transform the model to a system of two subsystems, and establish the existence of a unique non-negative solution by means of frozen coefficients and fixed point theory, and show the continuous dependence of the population density on control variable. Then, the existence of an optimal control strategy is proved via compactness and extremal sequence. Next, necessary optimality conditions of first order are established in the form of an Euler–Lagrange system by the use of tangent-normal cone technique and adjoint system. Moreover, a numerical result for the optimal control strategy is presented. Our conclusions would be useful for managing the vermin.