Systems Ecology Flashcards
What role did Wren and Halley play in what became known as the enlightenment period
They were materialists that supported the principia to advance their views
As this gained ground it became known as enlightenment which was a cultural movement to reform society using reason, challenging ideas grounded in tradition or faith and advance knowledge through application of scientific method
Newton fever reached its peak when French mathematician Laplace suggested that by applying Newtonian Mechanics any angle or demon could do what?
Predict all future and past events by simply knowing the present state of a phenomena
Similar as one could predict path of pool ball
Darwin’s theories on the struggle for existence were heavily influenced by two Newtonian thinkers who were they and how
Malthus: the growth of populations will grow exponentially until some external force is brought to bear
Smith: entities are independent and behave so as to maximize their own self interest. Doing so ensures the optimal state for the population as a whole
What are the five major char of Newtonian systems
Universal: it works the same in any time or place
Deterministic: knowing the current state allows you to know the future state
Closed: there is no external inputs
Reversible: if something added can know the effect same for removed (regardless of time moving backward and forward system work equally well)
Atomistic: that if you break the components down you can understand everything as a whole (comprised of discrete, independently performing units)
Using the car engine and intertidal zone, define and contrast the terms complicated and complex
A car engine is complicated because we it is made of many parts and sub parts, but we know how it will function and if something is removed or added we know the effect
Whereas an intertidal zone is both complicated and complex because we can not break down the components and understand effects. The distribution and abundance of species is directly related to the behaviour, prey, and interactions
Arrange the following from best to worst in terms of being able to explain data variance: physiological (organismal) ecology, community ecology, evolutional studies
Organismal, community, evolutionary
Looking at just the organisms removes most external variation, as the level of organism gets higher, the ratio of noise to signal gets greater
Three properties of complex systems
Complex collective behaviour
Signalling or information processing
Adaptation
Complex collective behaviour
follow simple rules and lack central control or a leader. Collective actions of the vast number of individuals that give rise to complexity and changing behaviour (forest succession result of individuals)
Signalling or I formation processing
Produce and use information signals from both internal and external sources
Complex systems are sensitive to both interval and external change
(Low absence of fish means circular nests but high abundance means straight edges and hexagonal to use less room)
Adaptation in complex systems
Complex systems adapt via feedback loops so as to increase the probability of persistence over time
(Fledgling birds that are late have higher prob of surviving means that more population will shift to later fledgling)
Complex systems
Is a large network of components with no central control and simple rules of operation that give rise to complex collective behaviour, sophisticated information processing, and adaptation
Systems that exhibits non-trivial emergent and self- organized behaviour
Contrast adaptive and non adaptive complex systems
Non adaptive system do not or can not alter their system states in response to internal or external feedback loop (hurricane, water)
Adaptive (adaption plays a major role)
How did church respond to Galileo
They wrangled over how not why things happen the way they do
Therefore it was possible for the church to maintain their status and abandon flawed views but still use gods will for the why
Aristotles/ Aquinas model
Is founded in a set of nested hierarchical causalities that are irreconcilable with the reductionist view which with the Newtonians forms the basis of science today
Why was the principia created
Newton wanted to beat Hooke in publishing why the planets move in elliptical shape
He went away for two years and in order to beat Hooke just created the bear bones of the paper and would add mystical stuff to it later
The papers gained a lot of popularity and he never went back to change it
