Abstract
Network synergism is the property inherent in all complex adaptive systems that the direct resource transactions between organisms and their environments, when integrated across a whole-system organization, translate into integral (direct plus indirect) relationships that are more positive than the local ones (Fath and Patten, in press). Ecosystems on the whole provide hospitable conditions for life. These positive relationships are observed in the integral utility of the system. An input-output analysis based methodology that measures the total integral utility has been developed to model these synergistic relationships (Patten 1991, Patten,1992). In this paper, we demonstrate how network synergism arises in simple systems, and compare its behavior with several other proposed ecological goal functions namely trophic transfer efficiency (Odum 1969), cycling (Finn 1976), maximum power (Lotka 1922), maximum indirect effects (Patten 1995), and connectivity.
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© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Fath, B.D., Patten, B.C. (1998). A Utility Goal Function Based On Network Synergism. In: Müller, F., Leupelt, M. (eds) Eco Targets, Goal Functions, and Orientors. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58769-6_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58769-6_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-63720-9
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