Recurrent Themes in Mathematical Biology

Organisms have elaborate control systems for the regulation of function, and even whole ecosystems exhibit feedback mechanisms that regulate the flow of materials and energy. The fact that similar control mechanisms and similar patterns exist in a wide variety of biological systems has made it natural to seek to abstract those features that are common and to develop mathematical descriptions that help to catalogue them. This search has drawn many mathematicians, physicists, and cyberneticists to the study of biology. Fittingly, many such individuals are represented in this volume, because Prof. Teramoto has been a central figure in the development of biophysics and mathematical biology in Japan, and in introducing physicists and mathematicians to the complexities and challenges of biology.