Abstract
This chapter considers the nature of order and complexity in ecological systems to gain additional insights into the behavior of highly complex systems. The first part of the chapter focuses on a discussion of topics that are essential to an understanding of system order, complexity, and their relationships. The adequacy of the three traditional nonlinear dynamics attractor types is considered, and an addition to the extant theory to include an attractor that appropriately represents the behaviors of highly complex systems is proposed. This attractor resides at the edge of order in a region of maximal system complexity. Next, what I call the “myth of persistence” is addressed. The dynamics of natural systems are not persistent; they are ever-changing. Highly complex systems explore a broad dynamics state space, from very well-ordered dynamics to edge-of-order dynamics. Probabilistic aspects of natural systems are considered next. We find that chance is ubiquitous in natural system dynamics. Finally, optimality in complex natural systems is addressed. We find not optimal, but rather “good enough” outcomes.
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