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Published on: July 29, 2019
Environmental regulation can arise under minimal assumptions
J McDonald-Gibson1, J G Dyke, E A Di Paolo
1Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems Group, Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK. jamie.mcdg@googlemail.com
Journal of Theoretical Biology
|February 12, 2008
Summary
Organisms can regulate global resources through niche construction without needing specific traits to be advantageous. This novel model shows stable environmental states emerge from organism-environment co-evolution, even with mutations.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Previous models of environmental regulation often assume advantageous traits for regulation.
- These models frequently incorporate predetermined environmental optima.
- Organism-environment coupling is key to understanding ecological regulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a model of environmental regulation via niche construction without common restrictive assumptions.
- To investigate if stable environmental states can emerge without predetermined optima.
- To explore the role of organism-environment co-evolution in resource regulation.
Main Methods:
- Developed a novel model simulating organism-environment co-evolution.
- Incorporated niche construction as a regulatory mechanism.
- Performed sensitivity analysis to assess robustness to mutation and parameter variation.
Main Results:
- The model demonstrates regulation of a global environmental resource through niche construction.
- Polymorphic stable states emerge and resist perturbation, without a coded environmental optimum.
- Two subpopulations maintaining the resource within a narrow band, protected by oscillations, were observed.
Conclusions:
- Environmental regulation can arise from organism-environment coupling via niche construction, without prior assumptions on trait advantage or optima.
- The model's robustness suggests a general mechanism for biological environmental regulation.
- By-products of organisms can drive significant environmental regulation.
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