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The Imbalance of Nature … Feedback and Stability in Ecosystems

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Complexity in Landscape Ecology

Part of the book series: Landscape Series ((LAEC,volume 22))

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Abstract

Ecosystems are dynamic and apparent stability may be an illusion of scale. Some ecosystems are subject to chronic disturbance. In dynamic systems, equilibrium is difficult to achieve and maintain. Systems often exhibit sensitivity to initial conditions and chaotic behaviour. Negative feedback promotes stability. Positive feedback is destabilizing, but also promotes the emergence of large-scale order in complex systems.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Some trees are more than 2000 years old.

  2. 2.

    We will explore food webs further in Chap. 7.

  3. 3.

    In the exponential model the rate of increase in population size at any time t is proportional to its size Nt. This means that Nt can be calculated from the initial size of the population No, the intervening time t and the rate of growth r, using the formula: Nt = No ert.

  4. 4.

    The equation for logistic growth is:

    $$ X\left(t+1\right)= rX(t)\left(1-X(t)/K\right) $$

    where X(t) is the population size at time t, r is the rate of population growth, and K is the carrying capacity.

  5. 5.

    In the case of discrete logistic growth x’ = Lx(1 − x), for example, the period is 1 (i.e. an equilibrium point) for 2 < L < 3, but in the interval 3 < L < 4, the period doubles to produce limit cycles of period 2, 4, 8, 16, ... until the period becomes effectively infinite at the point L ~ = 3.93 (Fig. 5.10).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    David G. Green

  2. Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, QLD, Australia

    Nicholas I. Klomp

  3. Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, USA

    Glyn Rimmington

  4. Fremont, CA, USA

    Suzanne Sadedin

Authors
  1. David G. Green
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  2. Nicholas I. Klomp
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  3. Glyn Rimmington
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  4. Suzanne Sadedin
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Green, D.G., Klomp, N.I., Rimmington, G., Sadedin, S. (2020). The Imbalance of Nature … Feedback and Stability in Ecosystems. In: Complexity in Landscape Ecology. Landscape Series, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46773-9_5

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