Competition models for plant stems (Q1989450)

This paper is on models that describe a large number of similar plants competing for sunlight. It is assumed that each plant consists of a single stem, and that the density of the stems (that is, the average number of stems growing per unit area) is constant. The objective is to calculate the shape of each stem and the density of leaves that maximize the captured sunlight. In the first model, there is a single stem with constant thickness and fixed length $\ell,$ whose shape can be described by an arclength parametrization $\gamma(s) = (x(s), y(s))$. The leaves are uniformly distributed along the stem with density $\kappa$. The function $\gamma(s)$ is assumed to be Lipschitz continuous with constant $= 1$, so that the tangent vector $\gamma(s)$ exists a.e. and we can write $\gamma'(s) = (x'(s), y'(s)) = (\cos \theta(s), \sin \theta(s))$, where the map $\theta(s)$ is the control function. The intensity of sunlight $I(y)$ is a nondecreasing function of the height $y$ alone; that $I(y)$ varies is due to the possible presence of competing vegetation that blocks sunlight increasingly the closer we are to the ground. The authors derive a formula for the total sunlight captured by the stem and set up a control problem for $\theta(s)$. The eDE071945870 xistence of a solution is proved, along with necessary conditions. Uniqueness holds under smoothness assumptions on the light intensity. The second model deals with the case where the length $\ell$ of the stem is not constrained and the density of the leaves may be variable along the stem. The optimization includes a cost coming from transport of water and nutrients from the root to the leaves. The results for the first model are generalized and existence of optimal controls is proved. As in the first model, uniqueness is shown under smoothness assumptions on the sunlight intensity $I(y)$ and there is a nonuniquess example in absence of smoothness. Finally, a model is set up for the many stem problem and existence-uniqueness results are shown. The paper ends with some results and conjectures about stem competition in a domain with boundary.