Centralized vs Decentralized Control in the Regulation of Populations

Abstract.  Every biological system, whether a cell, an organism or a society, can replicate, and does so using resources collected from its environment. The attempt to understand population regulation has arguably been the organizing principle of the science of ecology. Our models of regulation often appeal to the idea of a centralized controller. But it has become clear that most systems are regulated neither by centralized control nor by decentralized resource depletion, but instead by an interaction between centralized and decentralized mechanisms. The working group will bring together people who investigate how centralized and decentralized control interact to regulate physiological, social, and human systems, including social insect colonies, cancer, and the city-states of ancient Greece.