A persistent dynamical system in R>0d is one whose solutions
have positive lower bounds for large t, while a permanent dynamical system in
R>0d is one whose solutions have uniform upper and lower bounds
for large t. These properties have important applications for the study of
mathematical models in biochemistry, cell biology, and ecology. Inspired by
reaction network theory, we define a class of polynomial dynamical systems
called tropically endotactic. We show that two-dimensional tropically
endotactic polynomial dynamical systems are permanent, irrespective of the
values of (possibly time-dependent) parameters in these systems. These results
generalize the permanence of two-dimensional reversible, weakly reversible, and
endotactic mass action systems.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures. Version 3 clarifies some explanations and adds
a detailed calculation to an example which clarifies how the result can be
applie