Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Khz
6
starling
Khz
6
blackbird
4
4
2
2
500 ms
240 ms
Fig. 4.8 Spectrogram of distress calls of starling and blackbird (Reproduced with permission
from Mathevon et al. 1997 )
4.10 Ecological Codes
The ecological complexity of natural systems is based on interactions among
landscapes, ecosystems, communities, populations, and individuals. Most of these
interactions operate according to a thermodynamic gradient (Odum 1983 ), whereas
others are characterized by a negative entropic regime (Schr¨dinger 1944 ), dramat-
ically increasing the flow of information (Reza 1961 ) and distance from a high-
probability state of entropic configurations (Ulanowicz 1997 ).
At first sight, a complex system is perceived as a complicated one, but this is a
misleading effect largely caused by a lack of a full understanding of the rules that
govern the relationships between its component parts. Such rules are sequences of
ecological codes that are used to connect at least two interacting subjects.
Similar to all organic codes (Barbieri 2003 ), the ecological codes can be defined
as mechanisms that establish an arbitrary set of connections between two or more
components (organisms and/or their aggregations) of a complex system. The
ecological codes are the tools that organisms use in everyday life to relate them-
selves to the external world. Ecological codes are visual, acoustic, tactile, chemical,
and cultural and exist at every scale of living organization.
More functions require more ecological codes, which results in more
possibilities for organisms to interact with their perception of the external environ-
ment, or Umwelt, sensu von Uexk¨ ll ( 1982 (1940), 1992 (1934)), and finally to
benefit for resources (Farina 2012 ).
The ecological codes classify external objects and process analogue gradients as
discrete meaningful digital units. In birds, for example, the distance from a safe
place is transformed into discrete distance units, each associated with a specific
habit (e.g., stay confident, quickly escape, alerting, etc.). Such transformations are
performed by cognitive code makers and produce codes that are incorporated into
the genetic or the cultural reservoir of every organism.
To understand an ecological code is necessary to start from a specific function
that in turn is activated by a specific physiological need. For every function there is
a dedicated code sequence that guides such function to tracking the resource
requested to satisfy a specific need. For instance, the need to acquire food is
satisfied by a predator by using a search image of the prey, as a result of which
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