(496e) Novel Application of Control and Dynamic Systems Analysis to Coral Ecosystems

Inspired by Prof. Reuel Shinnar's creative work in such diverse application areas as crime control, this talk will address another unusual application for process systems engineers: the exquisite control of annual reproduction in spawning coral. The species under investigation has a well characterized spawning event that occurs once a year, on one evening for approximately one hour. Using a variety of mathematical models and systems analysis techniques, a novel hypothesis will be detailed to account for the precise timekeeping achieved in the face of stochastic environmental disturbances. A cascade network of controllers, at time scales of months (circa-annual), days (circa-lunar), and days (circa-diel) will be described. The model predictions will be supported by field data collected over the last 5 years in the pacific republic of Palau. The principles underlying this biological clock will be explored for relevance in chemical engineering problems, such as distributed control of sensors over networks. Ongoing work to unravel the gene regulatory circuitry will also be described.