Increasing Complexity Can Increase Stability in a Self-Regulating Ecosystem

Dyke, James G.; McDonald-Gibson, Jamie; Paolo, Ezequiel A. Di; Harvey, Inman

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-74913-4_14

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…These results could suggest that some diversity in the population could increase the probability of stable states arising. Dyke et al (2007) suggested that if a population contains a variety of different genotypes, perhaps through mutation, then each of these could be instrumental in seeding future periods of stability. The genetic variation maintained could therefore enhance the 'evolvability' of the system and its components, affecting long-term evolutionary dynamics.…”

Section: Article In Pressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental regulation can arise under minimal assumptions

McDonald-Gibson

Dyke

Paolo

et al. 2008

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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Models that demonstrate environmental regulation as a consequence of organism and environment coupling all require a number of core assumptions. Many previous models, such as Daisyworld, require that certain environment-altering traits have a selective advantage when those traits also contribute towards global regulation. We present a model that results in the regulation of a global environmental resource through niche construction without employing this and other common assumptions. There is no predetermined environmental optimum towards which regulation should proceed assumed or coded into the model. Nevertheless, polymorphic stable states that resist perturbation emerge from the simulated co-evolution of organisms and environment. In any single simulation a series of different stable states are realised, punctuated by rapid transitions. Regulation is achieved through two main subpopulations that are adapted to slightly different resource values, which force the environmental resource in opposing directions. This maintains the resource within a comparatively narrow band over a wide range of external perturbations. Population driven oscillations in the resource appear to be instrumental in protecting the regulation against mutations that would otherwise destroy it. Sensitivity analysis shows that the regulation is robust to mutation and to a wide range of parameter settings. Given the minimal assumptions employed, the results could reveal a mechanism capable of environmental regulation through the by-products of organisms. r

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Section: Article In Pressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental regulation can arise under minimal assumptions

McDonald-Gibson

Dyke

Paolo

et al. 2008

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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“…In this sense, we do not distinguish between the fundamental niche, the environmental conditions in which the species can survive and proliferate, and realized niche which is influenced by external factors such as interspecies competition and predation. While we mediate all biotic interactions through the environment, previous studies have concentrated on the individual species interactions, such as McDonald-Gibson et al (2008) and Dyke et al (2007) where increased interspecies competition appears to accentuate the homeostatic properties of a reign-control sys- tem, despite other approaches which argue that increasingly connected systems lose stability (May 1972). Also, the extent to which the separation of time scales between changes in the environment and biota are important to the model dynamics is unclear.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There have been a number of extensions and developments of the original Daisyworld model (see Wood et al (2008) for a review), some of which has been undertaken within the field of artificial life. Dyke et al (2007) for example allow external perturbation to vary on timescales comparable to changes in the biota, while Williams and Noble (2005) extend the model to enable stochastic evolution of daisy species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tipping points in Complex Coupled Life-Environment Systems

Weaver

Dyke

2013

Advances in Artificial Life, ECAL 2013

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Simple models of complex phenomena provide powerful insights and suggest low-level mechanistic descriptions. The Earth system arises from the interaction of subsystems with multi-scale temporal and spatial variability; from the microbial to continental scales, operating over the course of days to geological time. System-level homeostasis has been demonstrated in a number of conceptual, artificial life, models which share the advantage of a thorough and transparent analysis. We reintroduce a general model for a coupled life-environment model, concentrating on a minimal set of assumptions, and explore the consequences of interaction between simple life elements and their shared, multidimensional environment. In particular stability, criticality and transitions are of great relevance to understanding the history, and future of the Earth system. The model is shown to share salient features with other abstract systems such as Ashby's Homeostat and Watson and Lovelock's Daisyworld. Our generic description is free to explore high-dimensional, complex environments, and in doing so we show that even a small increase in the environmental complexity gives rise to very complex attractor landscapes which require a much richer conception of critical transitions and hysteresis.

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“…There are other factors that might have caused the mismatch between UFS and FS in the concentration of nanosized and picosized Chl a. For example, the biodiversity of the community decreased after removal of microsized cells, which increased the difficulty for the community to reestablish a new balance (Dyke et al, 2007). Nanosized and picosized phytoplankton may adopt a strategy to survive in unstable habitats, e.g., by producing spores that can be dormant temporarily and revive at an appropriate time (Nayaka et al, 2017).…”

Section: Role Of Microsized Phytoplankton In Affecting the Growth Of ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Anthropogenic Aerosol Addition on Phytoplankton Growth in Coastal Waters: Role of Enhanced Phosphorus Bioavailability

et al. 2022

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Atmospheric deposition can supply nutrients to induce varying responses of phytoplankton of different sizes in the upper ocean. Here, we collected surface and subsurface chlorophyll a maximum (SCM) seawaters from the Yellow Sea and East China Sea to conduct a series of onboard incubation experiments, aiming to explore the impact of anthropogenic aerosol (AR, sampled in Qingdao, a coastal city in Northern China) addition on phytoplankton growth using schemes with (unfiltered seawater, UFS) and without (filtered seawater, FS) microsized (20–200 μm) cells. We found that AR addition stimulated phytoplankton growth obviously, as indicated by chlorophyll a (Chl a) in surface incubations, and had stimulatory or no effects in SCM incubations, which was related to nutrient statuses in seawater. The high ratio of nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) in the AR treatments demonstrated that P became the primary limiting nutrient. The alkaline phosphatase activity (APA), which can reflect the rate at which dissolved organic P (DOP) is converted into dissolved inorganic P, was 1.3–75.5 times higher in the AR treatments than in the control, suggesting that AR addition increased P bioavailability in the incubated seawater. Dinoflagellates with the capacity to utilize DOP showed the dominant growth in the AR treatments, corresponding to the shift in phytoplankton size structure toward larger cells. Surprisingly, we found that nanosized (2–20 μm) and picosized (0.2–2 μm) Chl a concentrations in UFS were generally higher than those in FS. The APA in UFS was at least 1.6 times higher than in FS and was proportional to the contribution of microsized cells to the total Chl a, suggesting that microsized cells play an important role in the increase in APA, which contributes to the growth of nanosized and picosized phytoplankton. Current work provides new insight into the increase of P bioavailability induced by atmospheric deposition and resultant ecological effect in coastal waters.

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Increasing Complexity Can Increase Stability in a Self-Regulating Ecosystem

Cited by 7 publications

References 18 publications

Environmental regulation can arise under minimal assumptions

Environmental regulation can arise under minimal assumptions

Tipping points in Complex Coupled Life-Environment Systems

Effect of Anthropogenic Aerosol Addition on Phytoplankton Growth in Coastal Waters: Role of Enhanced Phosphorus Bioavailability

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