That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire Gerard Manly Hopkins CLOUDPUFFBALL, torn tufts, tossed pillows ' f

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That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire Gerard Manly
HopkinsCLOUD-PUFFBALL, torn tufts, tossed
pillows ' flaunt forth, then chevy on an
air-built thoroughfare heaven-roysterers, in
gay-gangs ' they throng they glitter in
marches.Down roughcast, down dazzling whitewash,
' wherever an elm arches,Shivelights and
shadowtackle in long ' lashes lace, lance, and
pair.Delightfully the bright wind boisterous '
ropes, wrestles, beats earth bareOf
yestertempest's creases in pool and rut peel
parchesSquandering ooze to squeezed ' dough,
crust, dust stanches, starchesSquadroned masks
and manmarks ' treadmire toil thereFootfretted
in it. Million-fuelèd, ' nature's bonfire burns
on.But quench her bonniest, dearest ' to her,
her clearest-selvèd sparkMan, how fast his
firedint, ' his mark on mind, is gone!Both are
in an unfathomable, all is in an enormous
darkDrowned.
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The structures of the world emerge from
interactions at a lower level
We could add another layer below the layer of
local interaction and suggest that this layer is
the emergent outcome of that lower level in a
hierarchy of interactions.
A useful description of an object involves
simplification - enough to capture reality but
not so little that it becomes simplistic, not so
much that it becomes obfuscated.
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Systems

• Each system is an entity composed of diverse but
  interrelated parts that function as a complex
  whole. These parts are called components.
• The state is the set of important attributes
  that characterize the system at a particular time.

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A system is a collection of objects organized
according to a plan and forming a unity or
whole Objects separate but interacting. Objects
are organized. There is a plan - the connections
between subsystems are repeated in time and space.
The whole may not merely be the sum of its parts.
Properties emerge, e.g. water.
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A vertical perspective on earths systems
The ecological hierarchy
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A Digression on Illusion
From Ahl and Allen, Hierarchy Theory 1996
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Optical Illusions These are more than just
childrens games. Think about them for a moment
and they become frightening. If the reality of
these simple things is so illusive, how much more
so is the reality of more complex things Larry
Slobodkin Simplicity and complexity in Games of
the Intellect, 1992
Reality is mediated through a nervous system that
imposes simplicity on surrounding events - true
for all organisms.
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An ecological view of the above-ground world
Most of the business is going on above our heads
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Earth as a system each component can be analyzed
separately - very convenient but knowledge of
the entire environmental system of Earth is
necessary for the solution to many global
ecological problems
Note Ecosystem management is an attempt to bring
systems perspective to human interaction with
natural resources.
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Four subsystems atmosphere, biosphere,
hydrosphere, lithosphere.
Earth is a closed system with regard to matter,
but is open energetically
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• Ecosystem concept was introduced in 1935 by
  Alfred Tansley
• But the more fundamental conception is, as it
  seems to me, the whole system (in the sense of
  physics) including not only the organism-complex,
  but also the whole complex of physical factors in
  the widest sense... These ecosystems .. Range
  from the universe as a whole down to the atom

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EcosystemAn ecosystem is a natural unit that
includes all organisms in a given area
interacting with the physical environment so
that when energy flows through the system there
is an exchange of material between the living and
non-living parts of the system.
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A complete ecosystem contains interactions
between biotic and abiotic compontents above and
below ground.
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Components of a complete ecosystems
Autotrophs Synthesize organic compounds
The form in which plant nutrients are available
can be very important
Heterotrophs
CO2 2H2O light energy (CH20) H20 O2
(Carbon fixation)
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Illustrating ecosystem structure A familiar
example
Producer
Secondary consumer
Primary consumer
Decomposers
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Most of plant productivity goes directly into the
Dead Organic Matter (DOM) compartment - study of
soil is a crucial component of ecosystems