Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems. (MPB-42)

by Ricard Solé, Jordi Bascompte

Overview

Can physics be an appropriate framework for the understanding of ecological science? Most ecologists would probably agree that there is little relation between the complexity of natural ecosystems and the simplicity of any example derived from Newtonian physics. Though ecologists have long been interested in concepts originally developed by statistical physicists and later applied to explain everything from why stock markets crash to why rivers develop particular branching patterns, applying such concepts to ecosystems has remained a challenge.



Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems is the first book to clearly synthesize what we have learned about the usefulness of tools from statistical physics in ecology. Ricard Solé and Jordi Bascompte provide a comprehensive introduction to complex systems theory, and ask: do universal laws shape the structure of ecosystems, at least at some scales? They offer the most compelling array of theoretical evidence to date of the potential of nonlinear ecological interactions to generate nonrandom, self-organized patterns at all levels.


Tackling classic ecological questions--from population dynamics to biodiversity to macroevolution--the book's novel presentation of theories and data shows the power of statistical physics and complexity in ecology. Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems will be a staple resource for years to come for ecologists interested in complex systems theory as well as mathematicians and physicists interested in ecology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400842933
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	01/06/2012
Series:	Monographs in Population Biology , #42
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Ricard V. Solé is Professor of Research at the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies in Spain, head of the Complex Systems Lab at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and Senior Member of the NASA-Associate Center of Astrobiology. His recent books include Signs of Life: How Complexity Pervades Biology. Jordi Bascompte is Associate Professor of Research at the Spanish Research Council, and a Visiting Scientist at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was awarded a European Young Investigator Award, and is coeditor of Modeling Spatiotemporal Dynamics in Ecology.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables xi

Acknowledgments xv

Chapter 1: Complexity in Ecological Systems 1

The Newtonian Paradigm in Physics 2

Dynamics and Thermodynamics 6

Emergent Properties 10

Ecosystems as Complex Adaptive Systems 13

Chapter 2: Nonlinear Dynamics 17

The Balance of Nature? 17

Population Cycles 19

Catastrophes and Breakpoints 27

Deterministic Chaos 31

Evidence of Bifurcations in Nature 34

Unpredictability and Forecasting 42

The Ecology of Universality 48

Evidence of Chaos in Nature 50

Criticisms of Chaos 58

Complex Dynamics:The Interplay between Noise and Nonlinearities 61

Chapter 3: Spatial Self-Organization:From Pattern to Process 65

Space:The Missing Ingredient 65

Turing Instabilities 68

Coupled Map Lattice Models 84

Looking for Self-Organizing Spatial Patterns in Nature 95

Dispersal and Complex Dynamics 98

Spatial Synchrony in Population Cycles 108

When Is Space Relevant? A Trade-Off between
Simplicity and Realism 117

Coevolution and Diffusion in Phenotype Space 123

Chapter 4: Scaling and Fractals in Ecology 127

Scaling and Fractals 127

Fractal Time Series 137

Percolation 139

Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions 144

The Branching Process 146

The Contact Process:Complexity Made Simple 149

Random Walks and Levy Flights in Population Dynamics 151

Percolation and Scaling in Random Graphs 156

Ecological Multifractals 162

Self-Organized Critical Phenomena 165

Complexity from Simplicity 168

Chapter 5: Habitat Loss and Extinction Thresholds 171

Habitat Loss and Fragmentation 171

Extinction Thresholds in Metapopulation Models 173

Extinction Thresholds in Metacommunity Models 178

Food Web Structure and Habitat Loss 186

Percolation in Spatially Explicit Landscapes 191

Extinction Thresholds in Spatially Explicit Models 195

Analytical Models of Correlated Landscapes 199

More Realistic Models of Extinction Thresholds 206

Chapter 6: Complex Ecosystems:From Species to Networks 215

Stability and Complexity 215

N-Species Lotka-Volterra Models 218

Topological and Dynamic Constraints 223

Indirect Effects 226

Keystone Species and Evolutionary Dynamics 231

Complexity and Fragility in Food Webs 237

Community Assembly:The Importance of History 251

Scaling in Ecosystems:A Stochastic Quasi-Neutral Model 254

Chapter 7: Complexity in Macroevolution 263

Extinction and Diversification 263

Internal and External Factors 264

Scaling in the Fossil Recor 270

Competition and the Fossil Recor 276

Red Queen Dynamics 279

Evolution on Fitness Landscapes 282

Extinctions and Coherent Noise 292

NetworkModels of Macroevolution 295

Ecology as It Would Be: Artificial Life 304

Recovery after Mass Extinction 308

Implications for Current Ecologies 313

Appendix 1.Lyapunov Exponents for ID Maps 317

Appendix 2.Renormalization Group Analysis 319

Appendix 3.Stochastic Multispecies Model 321

References 325

Index 359

What People are Saying About This

Will Wilson

A great book. Self-organization in Complex Ecosystems brings a whole new set of tools from statistical physics into the realm of studying ecological systems. Most, if not all, of these tools have been floating around the ecological literature for quite some time, in great part due to these authors themselves, but this book is the best overview yet. It will soon become the foundation for many courses and a major resource sitting on ecologists' bookshelves.
— Will Wilson, Duke University

May

This book is an outstandingly good summary of where we currently stand in the field of ecology. It draws together, in a clear and synoptic way, a large variety of new ideas and supporting them where possible and appropriate by data.
— Robert M. May, University of Oxford

From the Publisher

"A great book. Self-organization in Complex Ecosystems brings a whole new set of tools from statistical physics into the realm of studying ecological systems. Most, if not all, of these tools have been floating around the ecological literature for quite some time, in great part due to these authors themselves, but this book is the best overview yet. It will soon become the foundation for many courses and a major resource sitting on ecologists' bookshelves."—Will Wilson, Duke University

"This book is an outstandingly good summary of where we currently stand in the field of ecology. It draws together, in a clear and synoptic way, a large variety of new ideas and supporting them where possible and appropriate by data."—Robert M. May, University of Oxford

Editorial Reviews

"Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems is an excellent book, and could very well be the very best of its type."—-Timothy F. H. Allen., BioScience

"There is no book like this in the canonical line of textbooks on theoretical ecology: Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems views ecosystems from the perspective of self-organization and the emergence of their large-scale complex features. It does this from a largely mathematical perspective and, surprisingly, draws on several methods from theoretical physics."—-Stefan Bornholdt, TRENDS

"Throughout the volume, the authors provide examples of rigorous mathematical treatment and ecological problems of local and global significance using concepts and tools of statistical physics. These examples, as well as a solid background on the applicability of fundamental laws of physics in ecology, could provide excellent supplemental formation for theoretical ecology courses."—-Igor Linkov, Quarterly Review of Biology

From the Publisher

Throughout the volume, the authors provide examples of rigorous mathematical treatment and ecological problems of local and global significance using concepts and tools of statistical physics. These examples, as well as a solid background on the applicability of fundamental laws of physics in ecology, could provide excellent supplemental formation for theoretical ecology courses.

Quarterly Review of Biology - Igor Linkov

There is no book like this in the canonical line of textbooks on theoretical ecology: Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems views ecosystems from the perspective of self-organization and the emergence of their large-scale complex features. It does this from a largely mathematical perspective and, surprisingly, draws on several methods from theoretical physics.

TRENDS - Stefan Bornholdt

Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems is an excellent book, and could very well be the very best of its type.

othy F. H. Allen. "BioScience

There is no book like this in the canonical line of textbooks on theoretical ecology: Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems views ecosystems from the perspective of self-organization and the emergence of their large-scale complex features. It does this from a largely mathematical perspective and, surprisingly, draws on several methods from theoretical physics.
— Stefan Bornholdt

TRENDS

Self-Organization in Complex Ecosystems is an excellent book, and could very well be the very best of its type.

BioScience

Throughout the volume, the authors provide examples of rigorous mathematical treatment and ecological problems of local and global significance using concepts and tools of statistical physics. These examples, as well as a solid background on the applicability of fundamental laws of physics in ecology, could provide excellent supplemental formation for theoretical ecology courses.
— Igor Linkov

Quarterly Review of Biology