This paper studies monotone tridiagonal systems with negative feedback. These systems possess the Poincaré-Bendixson property, which implies that, if orbits are bounded, if there is a unique steady state and this unique steady state is asymptotically stable, and if one can rule out periodic orbits, then the steady state is globally asymptotically stable. Two different approaches are discussed to rule out period orbits, one based on direct linearization and another one based on the theory of second additive compound matrices. Among the examples that illustrate the theoretical results is the classical Goldbeter model of the circadian rhythm.
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