Abstract
A food chain consisting of species at three trophic levels is modeled using Beddington‐DeAngelis functional responses as the links between trophic levels. The dispersal of the species is modeled by diffusion, so the resulting model is a three component reaction‐diffusion system. The behavior of the system is described in terms of predictions of extinction or persistence of the species. Persistence is characterized via permanence, i.e., uniform persistence plus dissi‐pativity. The way that the predictions of extinction or persistence depend on domain size is studied by examining how they vary as the size (but not the shape) of the underlying spatial domain is changed.