Can Biomimicry Be a Useful Tool for Design for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation? - Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering - page 102

Table 4.3 Ecosystem processes for biomimetic design
Tier one. Ecosystem context
1.1 The context that life exists in is constantly changing
1.2 Living entities that make up ecosystems generally work to remain alive
Tier two. Therefore
2.1 Ecosystems adapt and evolve within limits at different levels and at different rates
2.2 Ecosystems are resilient. They can persist through time even as components within them
change
2.3 Ecosystems enhance the capacity of the biosphere to support life, and functioning and
processes in ecosystems and within organisms tend to be benign
2.4 Ecosystems are diverse in species, relationships and information
Tier Three. The implications of this are that
3.1 Ecosystems are self-organising decentralised and distributed
3.2 Ecosystems function through the use of complex feedback loops or cascades of information
3.3 Organisms within ecosystems operate in an interdependent framework
3.4 Ecosystems and organisms are dependent upon and responsive to local conditions
3.5 Ecosystems and the organisms within them optimise the whole system rather than maximise
components
3.6 Organisms within ecosystems are resourceful and opportunistic. Abundances or excesses are
used as a resource
Tier Four. This is supported by the fact that
4.1 Ecosystems have the capacity to learn from and respond to information and self-assemble
4.2 Ecosystems and the organisms within them have the capacity to heal within limits
4.3 Variety can occur through emergent effects (rapid change)
4.4 Variety can occur by recombination of information and mutation (gradual change)
4.5 Ecosystems are organised in different hierarchies and scales
4.6 Ecosystems and organisms use cyclic process in the utilisation of materials
4.7 Ecosystems often have in-built redundancies
4.8 Parts of ecosystems and organisms are often multifunctional
4.9 Local energy /resources become spatial and temporal organisational devices
4.10 Ecosystems and the organisms within them gather, use and distribute energy effectively
4.11 The form of ecosystems and organisms is often a result of functional need
4.12 Organisms that make up ecosystems are typically made from commonly occurring elements
useful in the context of climate change. These were identified as: use of abun-
dances or excess (i.e. renewable energy sources); optimisation of the whole system
rather than single parts; a responsiveness and dependence on local conditions;
diversity in types of organisms and relationships; a capacity for decentralised
organisation; interdependence of organisms; benign functioning; complex infor-
mation feedback loops; and a capacity for self-healing or self-correction.
4.4.2.2 Mimicking What Ecosystems Do: Ecosystem Functions
Mimicking the functions of ecosystems (what they do) is different from mimicking
their processes (how they do it). For the purposes of applying ecosystem bio-
mimicry to the built environment is it useful to understand the concept of