Emergent properties from organisms to ecosystems: towards a realistic approach

Ponge, Jean‐François

doi:10.1017/s146479310500672x

Cited by 86 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…there is an additional quality created by the interactions within the system that makes 'the whole more than the sum of the parts' (Müller et al, 2000). Well known examples are those of the age-related decline in forest growth (Smith & Long, 2001) or the albedo effect from interconnected crowns (Ponge, 2005). Müller et al (2001) have also pointed out that, since emergent properties are always consequences of self-organizing processes, emergence is directly linked with the principle of ecosystem integrity and many emergent properties are suitable indicators for it.…”

Section: Systemic Silviculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Managing forests in a changing world: the need for a systemic approach. A review

et al. 2017

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Aim of study: The paper is a scientific commented discussion with the aim of defining a framework which allows both a comprehensive vision of forest dynamics, as well as an adaptive management approach and policy procedures more suited to a changing and inherently unpredictable world.Main results: We identify the main challenges facing forestry in relation to recent developments in forestry thinking, i.e. the paradox of aiming at sustainability in a changing environment, a shifting perception of the relationship between ecological and social systems, the recognition of forest ecosystems as complex adaptive systems, the need for integrating the social and ecological dimensions of forestry into a single framework, and the growing awareness of the importance of the ethical approach to the forest. We propose the concept of "systemic forestry" as a paradigm for better understanding forest dynamics and for guiding management and public actions at various levels. We compare the systemic approach with different silvicultural and forest management approaches which have been proposed in the last decades.Research highlights: Our analysis shows that a systemic approach to forestry has five main consequences: 1. forestry is viewed as a part of landscape dynamics through a multi-sectoral coordination, 2. the logic of action changes from norm to process, 3. conservation is a dynamic search for resilience, 4. multi-functionality is achieved through a multi-entries approach integrating ecological, social and economic components of sustainability, 5. forestry institutions are reframed to address the issue of changing interactions among actors, 6. a change in the ethical approach to the forest is needed.

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Section: Systemic Silviculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Managing forests in a changing world: the need for a systemic approach. A review

et al. 2017

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“…The concept of emergence is ancient and can be traced to Aristotle, who commented that in certain situations the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Emergent properties are generally considered to have two attributes: (i) the whole must be greater than the sum of the parts and (ii) there must be a form of novelty (21,22). The application of these attributes to host-microbe interaction implies that once an interaction occurs in a given host, it will be very difficult to predict from first principles whether the outcome will be commensalism, colonization, mutualism, or disease.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is a Host? Incorporating the Microbiota into the Damage-Response Framework

Casadevall

Pirofski

2015

Infect Immun

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Since proof of the germ theory of disease in the late 19th century, a major focus of the fields of microbiology and infectious diseases has been to seek differences between pathogenic and nonpathogenic microbes and the role that the host plays in microbial pathogenesis. Remarkably, despite the increasing recognition that host immunity plays a role in microbial pathogenesis, there has been little discussion about what constitutes a host. Historically, hosts have been viewed in the context of their fitness or immunological status and characterized by adjectives such as immune, immunocompetent, immunosuppressed, immunocompromised, or immunologically impaired. However, in recent years it has become apparent that the microbiota has profound effects on host homeostasis and susceptibility to microbial diseases in addition to its effects on host immunity. This raises the question of how to incorporate the microbiota into defining a host. This definitional problem is further complicated because neither host nor microbial properties are adequate to predict the outcome of host-microbe interaction because this outcome exhibits emergent properties. In this essay, we revisit the damage-response framework (DRF) of microbial pathogenesis and demonstrate how it can incorporate the rapidly accumulating information being generated by the microbiome revolution. We use the tenets of the DRF to put forth the following definition of a host: a host is an entity that houses an associated microbiome/microbiota and interacts with microbes such that the outcome results in damage, benefit, or indifference, thus resulting in the states of symbiosis, colonization, commensalism, latency, and disease.

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“…We call this process "classification". Some examples of historical useful "morpho-functional" classification: (a) we know that sunlight is white and that it is made of the rainbow colours we are able to see with our eyes (this is how we understand something still unknown we call light); (b) we know that matter is made of atoms, and that atoms are made of particles themselves made in turn of other particles (each of these assemblages displaying its own emergent properties; applications to natural phenomena in Zanella, 1994;Ponge, 2005; deep review in Humusica 1, article 2); (c) starting points, basic limits: (1) when water becomes ice, the temperature of the water bath is 0°C; when water is boiling, it has a temperature of 100°C; (2) our body temperature when in good health is 37°C; (3) time also is measured in comparison with our heart bit: one bit, one second, 60 bits one minute and 60 min one hour. For understanding the complex dynamic processes that occur at the level of soil, we need to classify some crucial elemental soil components, and circumscribe as real as possible functional soil sub-systems.…”

Section: Why Do We Classify Things?mentioning

confidence: 99%