Leaves_Compute

TL;DR

This paper proposes that leaf gas exchange control mechanisms can be modeled as analog computation, based on the formal similarity between biological turgor pressure dynamics and cellular nonlinear networks.

Contribution

It introduces a novel perspective by linking biological leaf processes to computational models, suggesting leaves perform a form of analog computation.

Findings

Gas exchange control modeled as cellular nonlinear network

Biological processes analogous to computation

Potential for new bio-inspired computational approaches

Abstract

Control of gas exchange between a leafs interior and the surrounding air is accomplished by variations in the turgor pressures in the small epidermal and guard cells that cover the leafs surface. These pressures respond to changes in light intensity and color, temperature, CO2 concentration, and air humidity. The dynamical equations that describe these processes are formally identical to those that define computation in a two layer, adaptive, cellular nonlinear network. This identification suggests that leaf gas exchange processes can be understood as a kind of analog computation.