Are ecosystems complex systems? (Q2704310)

The main purpose of the paper is to demonstrate dynamic complexity of ecological systems using arguments from classical literature of the domain. The authors understand complexity in a variety of ways. First of all, they postulate that complexity is the ability to interact with the environment and to cope with disturbances. The other meaning of the complexity of the ecosystems is their diversity measured by species richness and the variability in species composition. Yet another manifestation of complexity is related to the problems with predictability of ecosystem behaviour. Ecosystems surprise the observer no matter how long they have been studied. The next point discussed in the paper is ecological stability, which the authors understand as combined of four components: resilience, persistence, resistance and variability. The subsequent understanding of complexity is connected with chaotic dynamics in ecological interactions. The authors give an example of such behaviour using a logistic growth equation, but their mathematical arguments are not correct. The paper also contains a discussion of game theoretic and cellular automata models of ecosystems. Although the paper may be of interest for people working in the modelling of ecosystems, from the mathematical point of view it is very naive and contains too many simplifications.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 0954.00019].