Ecosystems are composed of interacting populations of plant and animal species

A population is composed of many different individual members of the same species

Individual members have their own agency

But overall behavior of the population is predictable

• Examples:
  • lions hunt gazelles
  • tall plants compete for canopy space

Ecosystems tend to be self-correcting

• Ex. If a prey is over-hunted, its predator population diminishes
• Ex. If climate changes, new plants and animals become populous

Smaller organisms with faster reproduction rate (and shorter lifespans) adapt more quickly

An ecosystem is an example of an emergent stable solution to the problem of maximizing resource utilization from the environment

• Plants use solar energy and water to produce starches and sugars
• Herbivores eat plants to access their stored energy
• Carnivores in turn eat herbivores to access their stored energy
• Organisms form synergistic relationships
• Viruses operate at all levels, attempting to hijack others’ machinery to propagate their information

Even hostile environments with extreme conditions tend to have thriving ecosystems

• Ex. extremophile bacteria living near ocean vents using chemosynthesis

Ecosystems are fractal

• Ex. large ocean animals, smaller ocean animals, zooplankton, phytoplankton
• Each large organism is itself a host for populations of single-cell organisms
• Those organisms in turn compete to utilize resources
• Some synergistically benefit the host, others are parasitic

Summary of key patterns:

• Large scale stability in population patterns

• Very large number of individual population members (who are replaceable)

• Emergence of organisms to fill every available niche

• Competition and synergistic cooperation between populations

• Fractal organization

• Pattern of information propagation to successive generations (via genes)

• The ecosystem pattern represents the to the problem of

  statistically-based solution

  maximizing use of available resources

Other appearances of the ecosystem pattern:

• Nation-states
• Corporations
• Political ideologies
• Religions
• Information Technology viruses and botnets
• Emerging: meme populations
• Emerging: super-intelligences & cybernetic collectives