Re: Nature magazine article. review

[James N Rose <***>]

I fully agree John, particularly with your last pgh.

Fractal Complexity's equations mimic surface features
- which are only the skin of the phenomena -within-
where Rosen Complexity is actively at process.

The fact that both kinds of complexity exhibit
valid trackability indicates having them somehow
being commensurable.  Of course, my preference is
for General Systems concepts ( a - please forgive
me Judith - reductionist framing ) to underscore
even Rosen Complexity; but where Rosen Complexity
is superior to fractal complexity, akin to Fuzzy
Principles, and the larger paaradigm of systemic
operations/performances/behaviors.

Jamie





John Kineman wrote:
>
> If I understand Jamie's parsimonious comment, I think this is correct.
> Niches are defined by a combination of ranges of various environmental
> variables. One approach that has been popular to predicting ecoregions has
> been cluster analysis of environmental variables, which then gives a map of
> environmental uniqueness. One may then assume that these areas would be
> biologically unique because of adaptation. So, given that genetic
> difference reflects environmental difference, one should get the same map
> of general categories from environment or niche models. However, one should
> not get the same distribution of species except within its adaptive range,
> and as written the article seems to imply that all species are equivalent,
> which is clearly not true. The example given, species abundances within a
> particular forest type, makes sense because one can assume they are all
> operating within their niche limits. In that case the niches are
> essentially equal and so the neutral model will work fine. But I doubt that
> they claim that mangroves will invade the Yukon delta any time soon. It
> sounds more like grandstanding than anything to me.
>
> An analogy may be appropriate. We know that mountains are created by very
> intricate processes deep in the earth -- volcanism and tectonics
> determining mineral contents and uplift. And yet we can produce very
> realistic looking landscapes using a simple fractal equation. This is not
> the same thing as predicting what a given mountain will be like. It is
> modeling a gross generality.
>
> JJK
>