Robust set-point regulation for ecological models with multiple management goals (original) (raw)

Population managers will often have to deal with problems of meeting multiple goals, for example, keeping both the total population and population densities in given stage classes at specific levels. In control engineering, such set-point regulation problems are often tackled using multiinput, multi-output PI (proportional and integral) controllers. Building on our recent results for population management with single goals, we develop a PI control approach in a context of multiobjective population management. We show that robust set-point regulation is achieved by using a modified PI controller with saturation and anti-windup elements. Our results apply more generally to linear systems with positive state variables, including a class of infinite-dimensional systems, and thus have broad appeal.