scholarly journals Ecological autocatalysis: a central principle in ecosystem organization?

2018 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiel P. Veldhuis ◽  
Matty P. Berg ◽  
Michel Loreau ◽  
Han Olff
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Organization

scholarly journals Dimensions Missing from Ecology

Philosophies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Ulanowicz
Keyword(s):  
Functional Redundancy ◽  
Living Systems ◽  
Coupled Processes ◽  
Temporal Series ◽  
The Face ◽  
Ecosystem Organization ◽  
Physical Laws ◽  
Biological Dynamics

Ecology, with its emphasis on coupled processes and massive heterogeneity, is not amenable to complete mechanical reduction, which is frustrated for reasons of history, dimensionality, logic, insufficiency, and contingency. Physical laws are not violated, but can only constrain, not predict. Outcomes are predicated instead by autocatalytic configurations, which emerge as stable temporal series of incorporated contingencies. Ecosystem organization arises out of agonism between autocatalytic selection and entropic dissolution. A degree of disorganization, inefficiency, and functional redundancy must be retained by all living systems to ensure flexibility in the face of novel disturbances. That physical and biological dynamics exhibit significant incongruencies argues for the formulation of alternative metaphysical assumptions, referred to here as “Process Ecology”.

Inferring plant ecosystem organization from species occurrences

2010 ◽  
Vol 262 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Azaele ◽  
R. Muneepeerakul ◽  
A. Rinaldo ◽  
I. Rodriguez-Iturbe
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Organization ◽  
Species Occurrences

scholarly journals Diversity Promotes Temporal Stability across Levels of Ecosystem Organization in Experimental Grasslands

PLoS ONE ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. e13382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaël Proulx ◽  
Christian Wirth ◽  
Winfried Voigt ◽  
Alexandra Weigelt ◽  
Christiane Roscher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Ecosystem Organization

scholarly journals Composition and Specialization of the Lichen Functional Traits in a Primeval Forest—Does Ecosystem Organization Level Matter?

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 485
Author(s):  
Anna Łubek ◽  
Martin Kukwa ◽  
Bogdan Jaroszewicz ◽  
Patryk Czortek
Keyword(s):  
Functional Traits ◽  
Asexual Reproduction ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Functional Trait ◽  
Forest Community ◽  
Forest Communities ◽  
Niche Diversity ◽  
Dark Pigmentation ◽  
Ecosystem Organization

Current trends emphasize the importance of the examination of the functional composition of lichens, which may provide information on the species realized niche diversity and community assembly processes, thus enabling one to understand the specific adaptations of lichens and their interaction with the environment. We analyzed the distribution and specialization of diverse morphological, anatomical and chemical (lichen secondary metabolites) traits in lichen communities in a close-to-natural forest of lowland Europe. We considered these traits in relation to three levels of forest ecosystem organization: forest communities, phorophyte species and substrates, in order to recognize the specialization of functional traits to different levels of the forest complexity. Traits related to the sexual reproduction of mycobionts (i.e., ascomata types: lecanoroid apothecia, lecideoid apothecia, arthonioid apothecia, lirellate apothecia, stalked apothecia and perithecia) and asexual reproduction of mycobionts (pycnidia, hyphophores and sporodochia) demonstrated the highest specialization to type of substrate, tree species and forest community. Thallus type (foliose, fruticose, crustose and leprose thalli), ascospore dark pigmentation and asexual reproduction by lichenized diaspores (soredia and isidia) revealed the lowest specialization to tree species and substrate, as well as to forest community. Results indicate that lichen functional trait assemblage distribution should not only be considered at the level of differences in the internal structure of the analyzed forest communities (e.g., higher number of diverse substrates or tree species) but also studied in relation to specific habitat conditions (insolation, moisture, temperature, eutrophication) that are characteristic of a particular forest community. Our work contributes to the understanding of the role of the forest structure in shaping lichen functional trait composition, as well as enhancing our knowledge on community assembly rules of lichen species.

scholarly journals Key ecological parameters of immotile versus locomotive life Фундаментальные экологические параметры неподвижной и передвигающейся жизни

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. G. Gorshkov ◽  
A. M. Makarieva
Keyword(s):  
Primary Production ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Stable State ◽  
Energy Demands ◽  
Live Biomass ◽  
Ecosystem Organization ◽  
The One ◽  
Large Animals ◽  
Matter Energy

AbstractPrinciples of stable ecosystem organization are considered together with the role of abundant space, matter and energy in its maintenance. Life features the dichotomy of immotile (sessile, sedentary) organisms like plants, fungi, bacteria, on the one hand, versus organisms capable of active locomotion (animals) on the other. The immotile life can form a continuous live cover on the Earth’s surface. Since all available space is occupied, the immotile life does not experience an affluence of matter, energy and space itself. It turns out that this lack of abundance permits organization, on the basis of immotile organisms, of a stable ecosystem with a steady biomass. This live biomass comprises time-invariable genetic information about how to keep the environment in a stable state by controlling the degree of openness of nutrient cycles. Crucially, depending on their body size, energy and matter consumption by large animals exceed the area-specific fluxes of net primary production and its consumption in the immotile ecosystem by up to three orders of magnitude. The implication is that the herbivorous animals can meet their energy demands if and only if they move and destroy the live biomass of the immotile ecosystem. In consequence, if the immotile heterotrophs are replaced by locomotive heterotrophs, the ecosystem biomass experiences huge fluctuations and the ecosystem loses its capacity to maintain its favorable environment. From available theoretical and empirical evidence we conclude that life’s organization remains stable if the share of consumption by large animals is strictly limited, not exceeding about one per cent of ecosystem net primary production.

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