Field of reference: Biology, Ecology
Description: Cooperation is an intrinsic character in nature, any disturbance can have an effect on the entire system
>"The more one studies the living world the more one comes to realise that the tendency to associate, establish links, live inside one another and cooperate is an essential characteristic of living organisms. As Lewis Thomas has observed, "We do not have solitary beings. Every creature is, in some sense, connected to and dependent on the rest. Larger networks of organisms from ecosystems, together with various inanimate components linked to the animals, plants, and microorganisms through an intricate web of relations involving the exchange of matter and energy in continual cycles. Like individual organisms, ecosystems are self-organizing and self-regulating systems in which particular populations of organisms undergo periodic fluctuations. Because of the nonlinear nature of the pathways and interconnections within an ecosystem, any serious disturbance will not be limited to a single effect but is likely to spread thought the system and may even be amplified by its internal feedback mechanisms."
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שייך לקטגוריות 2. הטבע כמערכת | להשאיר תגובה | |
Field of reference: Physics
Description: Quantum Physicist links our broken perception of nature as separate fragments to the ills of society.
>"The notion that all these fragments are separately existent is evidently an illusion, and this illusion cannot do other than lead to endless conflict and confusion. Indeed, the attempt to live according to the notion that the fragments are really separate is, in essence, what has led to the growing series of extremely urgent crises that is confronting us today. Thus, as is now well known, this way of life has brought about pollution, destruction of the balance of nature, over-population, world-wide economic and political disorder and the creation of an overall environment that is neither physically nor mentally healthy for most of the people who live in it. Individually there has developed a widespread feeling of helplessness and despair, in the face of what seems to be an overwhelming mass of disparate social forces, going beyond the control and even the comprehension of the human beings who are caught up in it."
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שייך לקטגוריות 2. הטבע כמערכת | להשאיר תגובה | |
פורסם: 17.02.12, 12:11 pm
Field of reference: Ecology, Biology
Description: On integrated systems of nature - symbiosis
>"Symbiosis - Function 9
>Symbiosis is the mutually beneficial, co-evolved association of a species with other (usually very unrelated) species. The degree of interdependency varies greatly. It may involve cooperation among three or more species. Symbiosis is one of the most powerful functions of the Ecosphere because as unrelated organisms began to depend on each other, wholly new kinds of life forms originated. There are tens of thousands of co-evolved symbiotic systems in all ecosystems in virtually all phyla (14). In the dawn of life symbiosis brought many submicrocopic organisms together permanently and, over eons, shaped the world of life as we know it today. In fact, all individual cells of "eucaryotes" (algae, protozoans, fungi, animals and plants) are permanent symbiotic systems, indicating that ecological functions operate even at the cellular level. The loss of any species, however small, may decrease the possibilities of new forms of symbiosis, and new life forms, tomorrow.
>Mycorrhizal associations are widespread between fungal hyphae and vascular plant roots, in which fungi enable more efficient mineral absorption by the root hairs. In temperate forests some 80 to 90% of higher plants have roots associated with fungi.(15)
>Lichens combine a green algae and/or a nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria with a fungal partner. The algae or cyanobacteria provide nutrients to the fungal host, and in return receive living space.(16) Some lichens contain both algal and cyanobacterial partners. Symbiotic associations are found between coelentrates and algae growing in their cells; between bacteria and echinoderms; between bacteria, protozoans and/or fungi living in the gut of animals (essential for food digestion); between ants and aphids, and ants and fungi.
>Bioluminescence is the emission of cool chemical light by some groups of organisms such as plankton, many deep water fishes, some shallow water fishes, squids and fireflies. It is a unique kind of symbiosis. While in some cases the organism produces the light itself, in many species the light is emitted by phosphorescing bacteria which the host shelters and nourishes. In oceanic waters bioluminescence caused by bacteria occurs in fish species that live in the darkness up to 500 metres deep. For fish the light enables them to recognize species and mates (a form of communication), attract prey, camouflage their silhouettes from prey species through "countershading", and startle and distract predators.(18)
>Symbiosis is also evident in pollination, in which an enormous variety of insects, birds and bats are adapted to pollinate tens of thousands of different species of flowering plants, and where plants have responded by evolving floral fragrances, reflectance spectra, flower forms, markings, and flowering-time sequences.
>The biological complexity of pollination is underlined by the many forms that are mediated by the abiotic matrix of biodiversity, namely wind and water, both of which are the active agents of pollen transport between many plant species. In Canada, most trees, many shrubs, grasses, sedges, cattails and many forbs are wind pollinated. Water carries pollen in marsh plants such as the water shield,Brassenia schreberi, American eel grass, Vallisneria americana, the many species of Potamogeton, and others.
>Impairment of many elements of symbiosis, through habitat fragmentation, pollution, pesticides, and other human activities has already caused extinction of thousands of races and species worldwide."
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שייך לקטגוריות 2. הטבע כמערכת | להשאיר תגובה | |
פורסם: 17.02.12, 12:07 pm
Field of reference: Ecology, Biology
Description: On integrated systems of nature - population moderation
>“Population Moderation - Function 7 Population moderation refers to the limiting of runaway population increases or "blooms" of individual species. This function has commonly been described as maintaining the "balance of nature." The cyclical dynamics of predator/prey relationships and plant/herbivore relations, and diseases of humans provide examples of this function. Parasites often are major factors in controlling population. Humans are unique in that we have controlled numerous diseases, parasites, and predators on our own species to the extent that feed-back mechanisms limiting our populations have largely ceased to operate. At least in the short term, humans have escaped from the norms of the Ecosphere. This has grave consequences for the health of the Ecosphere. Taxonomic groups important in this population moderation function include viruses, many phyla of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, many invertebrates, many herbivores and many carnivores."
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שייך לקטגוריות 2. הטבע כמערכת | להשאיר תגובה | |
פורסם: 17.02.12, 12:06 pm
Field of reference: Ecology, Biology
Description: On integrated systems of nature - control of erosion
>“Control of Erosion - Function 6 The control of soil erosion, especially in terrestrial ecosystems, is a particularly powerful enabling function of vascular plants, since it can transform associated plant, animal and microorganism biodiversity. Aquatic vascular plants and some algal phyla also play an important role in estuaries and in riverine and lacustrine sites in reducing erosion. In shoreline marine areas, kelp beds and seagrass beds reduce loss of enriched sediment. In terrestrial regions, we may see extensive root growth, accumulation of an organic soil layer, litter accumulation and recycling and retention of nutrients. In such circumstances, soil builds up faster than wind and/or water can carry it away. The consequence for biodiversity is the evolution of more complex and diverse ecosystems."
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שייך לקטגוריות 2. הטבע כמערכת | להשאיר תגובה | |