Original Research Article Conservation of degraded wetland system of Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, India S.K. Tiwari, Ranjit Kumar Upadhyay Department of Applied Mathematics, Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad 826004, Jharkhand, India A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 3 April 2017 Received in revised form 25 September 2017 Accepted 4 October 2017 Available online xxx MSC: 92D40 35Q92 34D23 70K50 Keywords: Wetland ecosystem Crowley–Martin type functional response Turing instability Hopf-bifurcation Ecotourism A B S T R A C T The most common threats to wetlands and the Keoladeo National Park are water scarcity, changing biodiversity, increasing rate of contamination, uncontrolled growth of grass, urbanization and human intervention. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the degradation and conservation of biotic part of the park through a reaction diffusion modeling. The biotic part of wetland is divided into three categories good biomass, bad biomass, and bird population. Good biomasses are those species that provide food for bird population and contain floating vegetation, fishses, waterfowl and useful species. Bad biomasses contain Paspalum distichum and its family that affect the growth of good biomass. The interaction between good biomass and bird population is considered to be Crowley–Martin type functional response. We have presented the theoretical analysis of stability and Turing instability. With the help of numerical simulations, we have observed spatial patterns for the wetland model system. This study demonstrates that spatial heterogeneity, diffusion coefficients and per capita availability of water to bad biomass play an important role on the dynamical behavior of the model system. Also, we have pointed out the parameters that are responsible for the bad health of wetland ecosystem and suggested enhancing the water supply, decontamination and optimizing the land use structure for sustaining ecological balance and socio-economic stability of a region. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The ecological health of Keoladeo National Park (KNP) has been major concerns in India as it has figured in the list of Ramsar convention. The wetlands throughout the world and their ecosystems are suffering from environmental degradation like water scarcity, changing biodiversity, increasing rate of contami- nation, uncontrolled growth of grass, urbanization, pollution, disruption of breeding ground, imbalance in sediment load and nutrient filtration (Ramsar Convention Secretariat, 2011). Accord- ing to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) (MEA, 2005), wetlands deliver a wide range of ecosystem services that contribute to human well-being, such as fish and fiber, water supply, water purification, climate and flood regulation, coastal protection, recreational opportunities, and, increasing tourism. The degradation of wetlands is more rapid than that of other ecosystems. Similarly, the status of both freshwater and coastal wetland species is deteriorating faster than those of other ecosystems. Wang et al. (2008) analysed the current status of Chinese wetland protection and utilisation and concluded that it will be necessary to develop a practical method for developing patterns of appropriate economic application of wetlands and establishing a rational and scientific assessment system. Nobre (2011) reviewed the scientific approaches to address challenges in coastal management and to restore wetlands in spite of urbaniza- tion and rapid industrialization which supports ecotourism. Junk (2013) discussed the current state of knowledge about the occurrence, structures, and functions of the different wetland types varies considerably between regions, but in many cases it is insufficient to contribute to the development of a modern policy for the sustainable use and protection of wetlands. Ramírez and Fennell (2014) examine the wetland utilization and protection through the lens of ecotourism and presented a comprehensive framework for ecotourism and wetland restoration in the case of Bogotá, Colombia. Xu and Wall (2007) studied the ecotourism in Yancheng wetland, China and suggested that the educational programmes should be provided for local people concerning the nature of ecotourism, its potential benefits, and the value of protecting the environment. Their main concern was how to protect ecotourism while paying due consideration to the interests of local inhabitants. Chatterjee et al. (2015) have made assessment of environmental factors causing wetland degradation using Fuzzy analytical network process. E-mail address: ranjit_ism@yahoo.com (R.K. Upadhyay). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2017.10.001 1476-945X/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Ecological Complexity 32 (2017) 74–89 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Complexity journa l home page : www.e lsevier.com/loca te/ecocom