Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Scientists at the University of Cologne and the University of Osnabrück have demonstrated for the first time, in biological systems with a single species, that chaos-like unpredictable dynamics can arise under completely constant external conditions. Such dynamics, for example fluctuations in population density, occur even without interactions with the environment or other species.
This may explain why such an enormous diversity of species has evolved on our planet. If, contrary to earlier assumptions, different species and evolutionary lineages are subject to irregular chaotic dynamics in and of themselves, they never encounter each other at the same time with the same number of individuals. Since direct competition among species thus becomes rare, they can coexist and evolve for much longer time periods. The current study has appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Biodiversity refers to the variety of life at all levels, from genes to entire ecosystems. It encompasses evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes. It is not just about species we consider rare, threatened or endangered, but about all living things—from humans to organisms we know little about, such as microorganisms, fungi, and small invertebrates.
Biodiversity is an essential part of our lives. In addition to maintaining the stability of our own habitat, it also contributes to the fulfillment of many basic human needs, including as food, and serves as a supplier of energy or as a basis for medicines. In addition, biodiversity is important for pollination and seed dispersal and for controlling agricultural pests.
High biodiversity is a prerequisite for climate regulation. Nutrient cycles and the purification of drinking water and wastewater also require a high diversity of organisms. Humankind is currently destroying biodiversity at an alarming rate. A quarter of all species are considered threatened.
This study, which involved the research group of Professor Dr. Hartmut Arndt at the University of Cologne's Institute of Zoology, investigated the mechanisms that have led to species diversity on our planet and what we need to consider to ensure that these mechanisms continue to be effective. Arndt and his team have been studying the dynamic processes of species coexistence as a basis for evolutionary processes in model organisms for many years.
More information: Johannes Werner et al, Intrinsic nonlinear dynamics drive single-species systems, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209601119
Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(Score: 3, Touché) by Opportunist on Saturday November 12 2022, @06:47PM
We're very hard at work bringing order to that chaos by eliminting a few of them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 13 2022, @04:04AM
Indeed, this is why God invented chaos... so that nature could play dice with speciation.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday November 13 2022, @07:13AM
OK, so evolution is chaotic. But is it chaotic good, chaotic neutral or chaotic evil?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by TheLink on Sunday November 13 2022, @08:07AM
In places where energy and resources are plentiful and the climate is "friendly" - tropical rainforests, coral reefs etc; there are many different species - including not very "fit" animals that would die out if just something changed a bit.
In places where energy and resources are scarce and the climate is harsh - polar regions, desert regions, etc; there are fewer species.
It's just like an economy where there's plenty of money going around vs a huge recession, with the first you get lots of businesses popping up, including many that you don't know how they make money and survive; with the latter only a few "fit" businesses survive.