V. Life's Corporeal Evolution Develops, Encodes and Organizes Itself: An Earthtwinian Genesis Synthesis

6. Dynamic Fractal Network Ecosystems

Brown, James. Macroecology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. An ecologist seeks an appropriate framework to reflect the multidimensional intricacy of natural habitats.

Complex adaptive systems have several common features: (1) they are composed of numerous components of many different kinds, (2) the components interact nonlinearly and on different temporal and spatial scales, (3) the systems organize themselves to produce complex structures and behaviors, (4) the systems maintain thermodynamically unlikely states by the exchange of energy and materials across their differentially permeable boundaries, (5) some form of heritable information allows the systems to respond adaptively to environmental change. (14)

Brown, James. Macroecology: Progress and Prospect. OIKOS. 87/1, 1999. An update on the discovery of similar, repeatable networks and scales throughout flora and fauna.

The promise of macroecological research is that widespread patterns imply the operation of equally general processes, and universal patterns imply the operation of universal scientific laws. (7)

Brown, James and Geoffrey West. One Rate to Rule Them All. New Scientist. May 1,, 2004. In this popular report, an ecologist and a physicist describe a “metabolic theory of ecology” whereby the metabolic rate with regard to the body size and temperature of an organism is found to scale by a power-law relation from bacteria to the largest mammals.

Is ecology really devoid of universal laws? We think not. The laws are there, just waiting to be discovered. (39)

Brown, James, et al. Toward a Metabolic Theory of Ecology. Ecology. 85/7, 2004. A 51 page section contains this MacArthur award lecture and peer commentaries as a prolegomena to a unified theory of organisms within their natural environment. In this context, energetics, bodily mass, and other somatic properties appear to define a consistent metabolic scale from microbes to whales.

MTE (Metabolic Theory of Ecology) suggests that underlying the diversity of living things and the complexity of ecological systems are fundamental unities, some of which reflect how first principles of biology, physics, and chemistry govern the fluxes and pools of energy and materials within organisms and between organisms and their environments. (1821)

Cavagna, Andrea and Irene Giardina. Bird Flocks as Condensed Matter Systems. Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics. Vol. 5, 2014. Noted more in Active Matter, University of Rome La Sapienza physicists contend that these dynamic behaviors are amenable to study and understanding by way of these traditional physical theories.

Chown, S. L., et al. Macrophysiology: Large-scale Patterns in Physiological Traits and their Ecological Implications. Functional Ecology. 18/2, 2004. An introduction to a topical issue on “physiological ecology.” This aspect has lately gained theoretical roots in physics and chemistry by which uncover universal principles and topologies throughout flora and fauna. Typical articles are on how metabolism varies with temperature and the presence of a ubiquitous quarter-power scaling rule.

Chuang, John, et al. Homeorhesis and Ecological Succession Quantified in Synthetic Microbial Ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116/14852, 2019. Rockefeller University, NYC systems biologists provide a unique way to identify the presence of reliable mathematic patterns which underlie and shape seemingly contingent environmental changes. Bacteria colonies in a laboratory are found to be representative model of actual field phenomena, which also implies that the nonlinear forces are at invariant effect for any creaturely activities.

Many ecological processes are largely stochastic in nature. Nevertheless, the dynamics occurring in ecosystems following a major change, such as regrowth of a forest after a fire, often follow regular temporal patterns, a condition called ecological succession. We observed similar succession in simple microbial communities consisting of algae and ciliates colonizing a new environment and studied it by measuring many replicates over several days. Abundances, which were initially highly variable across replicates, rapidly converged to similar trajectories, a phenomenon called homeorhesis. (Significance)

Collier, John and Graeme Cumming. A Dynamical Approach to Ecosystem Identity. Brown, Bryson, et al, eds. Philosophy of Ecology. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2012. A University of Kwazulu-Natal, RSA, complexity philosopher and a University of Cape Town ornithologist sketch out how environmental biotas might be considered to possess their own self-sustaining “individuation.” Such an appreciation can then help inform a respectful maintenance of its flora and fauna. See also Collier’s paper “Holism and Emergence” in the South African Journal of Philosophy, (30/2, 2011).

Despite their diversity, complex adaptive systems are considered to have a number of common properties. They are assembled from diverse components that interact with one another. Complexity evidences itself through system dynamics, which include non-linear relationships between key variables, the presence of local equilibria and thresholds, feedback loops, and the ability to self-organize, learn, and respond actively to environmental change. (201)

Ecosystems are a particular kind of complex adaptive system. They are commonly understood to consist of organisms, an abiotic environment, and a set of interactions that occur between organisms and between organisms and between organisms and their environment. Although we focus here on ecosystems, many of the same ideas are more generally relevant to other complex adaptive systems. (201-202)

Cumming, Graeme. Spatial Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems. Berlin: Springer, 2011. A coauthor with Jon Norberg of the 2008 Complexity Theory for a Sustainable Future (search), and Pola Pasvolsky Chair in Conservation Biology at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology (Cape Town) here continues his novel insights into the dynamic animate nature and health of ecosystems. Akin to an organism’s metabolic homeostasis, living biotas appear to possess an innate propensity for maintaining across space and time their physiological well-being. This is said to be accomplished by way of self-organizing complex adaptive systems that are able to “learn and reason.” With systems philosopher John Collier, a complex resilient (eco)system can then achieves a consistent “identity” as if an “individual” whom maintains key entities and web relationships. As a consequence, since human communities arise from and are situated in a viable biosphere, life’s robust nonlinear network phenomena ought to be intentionally carried forth to create self-sustaining societies. For more, see Cumming's article Heterarchies: Reconciling Networks and Hierarchies in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, online May 2016.

Spatial Resilience is a new and exciting area of interdisciplinary research. It focuses on the influence of spatial variation – including such things as spatial location, context, connectivity, and dispersal – on the resilience of complex systems, and on the roles that resilience and self-organization play in generating spatial variation. In the process, the author ranges from the movements of lions in northern Zimbabwe to the urban jungles of Europe, and from the collapse of past societies to the social impacts of modern conflict. The many case studies and examples discussed in the book show how the concept of spatial resilience can generate valuable insights into the spatial dynamics of social-ecological systems and contribute to solving some of the most pressing problems of our time. (Publisher)

(Resilience is defined as:) (1) the amount of disturbance that a system can absorb while still remaining within the same state or domain of attraction; (2) the degree to which the system is capable of self-organization; and (3) the degree to which the system can build and increase its capacity for learning and adaptation. (13)

de Kemmeter, Jean-Francois, et al. Self-Organized Criticality Explains the Emergence of Irregular Vegetation Patterns in Semi-arid Regions. arXiv:2307.14083. Once more contributions such as this by University of Namur, Belgium, Florida State University and University College Dublin including Malbor Asllani well evince the 21th century quantization of innate complex dynamic phenomena which underlies, untangles and exemplifies nature’s self-similar universality.

Vegetation patterns in semi-arid areas occur either as regular or irregular vegetation patches separated by bare ground. Our interest is the patchy state which exhibits a power-law distribution. Here we present a novel self-organizing criticality which drives variegated vegetation patterns in desert landscapes. The model integrates essential ecological principles, emphasizing positive interactions and limited resources. The study aims to establish a foundation for an advanced understanding self-organizing criticality as ecological pattern variously formation. (Excerpt)

De Ruiter, Peter, et al, eds. Dynamic Food Webs: Multispecies Assemblages, Ecosystem Development and Environmental Change. Burlington, MA: Academic Press. December, 2005. A large volume not yet seen whose table of contents on the publisher’s website convey new abilities to understand such ultra-complex phenomena. The result of all these collaborative advances is a new Nature which is no longer a chaotic tangle but suffused by a complementary universality – and by implication a new kind of genesis cosmos.

Delabays, Robin and Philippe Jacquod.. Route to Chaos and Unified Dynamical Framework of Multi-Species Ecosystems. arXiv:2503.16999.. One important result is that all observed population dynamics in multi-species ecosystems can be reproduced to a unified mathematical model. This current entry by University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland, and University of Geneva system physicists is one more example of a scientific field such as theoretic environmental studies being able to reach a broad, cohesive veracity which can attribute its widely diverse phenomena to a ubiquitous, invariant source.

We investigate species-rich mathematical models of ecosystems. Here we emphasize the emergence of limit cycles due to the variability of interspecies interaction. which acquire a growing spectrum of frequencies. We find that consequent strange attractors maintain dynamical stability without species extinction. We give evidences that this route to chaos in ecosystems where predator-prey behavior dominates competition and mutualism. Overall, our work proposes a unifying framework, where a wide range of population dynamics emerge from a single model. (Abstract)

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