Fragile Dominion: Complexity And The CommonsBasic Books, 3. 6. 1999 - Počet stran: 250 We all know that our planet is losing its biological diversity at an alarming rate, with frightening implications for our future. But when does an ecosystem hit the breaking point? In this important book, Princeton biologist Simon Levin offers general readers the first look at how the new science of complexity can help to solve our looming ecological crisis. Levin argues that our biosphere is the classic embodiment of what scientists call complex adaptive systems. By exploring how such systems work, we can determine how they might fail: How much loss can an ecosystem bear before it starts to collapse? How resilient are these systems? Do they in fact hover at the edge of chaos? A deeply original work on one of the most pressing issues of our time, Fragile Dominion is a powerful appeal to understand and protect the global “commons.” |
Obsah
A Cautionary Tale | 1 |
The Nature of Environment | 17 |
Six Fundamental Questions | 39 |
Autorská práva | |
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adaptive landscape altruism animals areas become behavior biodiversity biological biosphere biota cells challenge chapter character displacement climate coevolution colonization Community Ecology competition complex adaptive systems contact process David Tilman distribution diversity dynamics ecological communities ecological systems ecologists ecosys ecosystem effects emerge energy environment environmental evolution evolutionary processes evolved example exist exploit explore extinction feedback loops fitness Food Webs forest François Jacob functional group fundamental Gaia genes genetic global habitat hence heterogeneity host human important increase individual influence interactions intertidal islands keystone large numbers Levin MacArthur maintain mechanisms mussels mutation natural selection number of species nutrients organisms parasites particular patterns physical plants play pollinators populations potential predators predictions Princeton problem productivity provides resiliency Robert role scales Science self-organized criticality similar Simon simply spatial strategies structure Stuart Kauffman survival theory tion trophic types understanding variability variation zones