Quiz 5 Flashcards
(29 cards)
Two basic rules of self-organization
- Complex systems arise from simple components
2. Complex ecological systems operate within knowable constraints
Three rules that schooling fish follow
- Stay as close as possible to neighbours
- Move at same speed as neighbours
- Orient towards centre of group
Erwin Schodinger
Scientist who gave three lectures on “Order from order” and “Order from chaos”.
Aperiodic crystal
Shrodingers prediction of a substance which passes order from parents to children. Aperiodic means non- repeating and crystal means stable. This was later found to be DNA.
A climax community occurs when the PMA and PLA are…
As close as possible to equality
Through succession, net production…
Decreases, because r selected species produce more biomass than k selected species
Throughout selection, biomass…
Increased, because there are more and larger organisms
Throughout succession, overhead..
Increases, because larger and more numerous organisms require more energy to maintain
Maximum power principle
Similar to PLA: open systems evolve to degrade as much energy as possible, while allowing for the continued existence of the systems that they are part of
What is the most useful viewpoint for understanding ecosystems: Newtonian, holistic, or hierarchical?
Hierarchical
Management strategies must focus on…
Dynamic balance
Characteristics of evolution
- Complexity increases with time
2. Nothing is permanent
Convergent evolution
The evolution of similar functional characteristics in different species
What would happen if no one died?
Since material cycles are closed, matter would be ”locked up” in organisms and we would run out of available resources.
Self-organized criticality
A property of dynamic systems which causes the same disturbance to have an increased impact as the system becomes more complex (reaching a critical point)
Edge/point of criticality
The point at which a disturbance will cause a collapse of the system
Why is disturbance so important for systems?
It maintains weak links, and allows the system to be rebuilt in a way that is suitable to current conditions
Panarchy
A theory involving spatial and temporal hierarchies of different levels of adaptive cycles
Stages of panarchy
Growth (r), conservation (K), release (omega), and reorganization (alpha)
Growth stage
Low capital, low organization; mainly r-selected species
Conservation stage
High capital, high organization; mainly k-selected species
Release stage
Low capital, high organization; matter is released back to environment
Reorganization stage
High capital, low organization; new species colonize area after release of resources. This is the surprise (pan) of panarchy
Which stage of panarchy is unpredictable?
Omega to alpha
