Mathematical Biology Seminar Patrick Shipman University of Maryland Monday Jan. 14, 2008 3:05pm in LCB 215 "Phyllotaxis: Cooperation and Competition between Mechanical and Biochemical Processes " Abstract: Current theories and models of the formation of phyllotactic patterns at plant meristems center on either the transport of the growth hormone auxin or the mechanical buckling of the plant tunica. We will develop a combined model that incorporates both mechanisms and show how the mechanisms may cooperate in determining the pattern, or how one or the other mechanism may dominate.