Measuring Complexity in an Aquatic Ecosystem
Abstract
We apply formal measures of emergence, self-organization, homeostasis, autopoiesis and complexity to an aquatic ecosystem; in particular to the physiochemical component of an Arctic lake. These measures are based on information theory. Variables with an homogeneous distribution have higher values of emergence, while variables with a more heterogeneous distribution have a higher self-organization. Variables with a high complexity reflect a balance between change (emergence) and regularity/order (self-organization). In addition, homeostasis values coincide with the variation of the winter and summer seasons. Autopoiesis values show a higher degree of independence of biological components over their environment. Our approach shows how the ecological dynamics can be described in terms of information.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1305.5413,
title = {Measuring Complexity in an Aquatic Ecosystem},
author = {Nelson Fernandez and Carlos Gershenson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1305.5413},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
6 pages, to be published in Proceedings of the CCBCOL 2013, 2nd Colombian Computational Biology Congress, Springer