The resources which furnish the growth needs of living organisms as flow~forms occur in a wide variety of circumstantial settings. Correspondingly, versatile patterns of organization are required to navigate the conditions within each and all of these regions. The need to attune organizational patterns with environmental conditions is essential to the diversity of life in natural habitats.
As an analogy, manufacturing a bicycle needs to relate to the variable circumstances present for cycling uphill, downhill, on flat ground, rough terrain, smooth tarmac etc. ‘Horses for courses’ as the saying goes. And as wear and tear takes its toll, degeneracy provides means for recycling and renewal, while reproduction permits dispersal to distant locations through familiar lineage. Patterns of change are brought about by processes that vary the flux of energy within, around, and throughout contextual barriers from energetic surfeit to energetic deficit. These processes differ in complimentary ways.
In ‘Degrees of Freedom: Living in Dynamic Boundaries’ (1997), Alan Rayner describes four such fundamental processes, based on the permeability, deformability and continuity of living system boundaries:
Conversion is the formation of effectively immobile storage seeds, following assimilation of excess energy from the environment. Boundaries of person, region, or neighborhood are sealed; the resultant seeds, spores, cysts, and storage organs are stultified in place-time. Distribution seals boundaries in elongating regions as well; however, unlike conversion, resources taken in fuel exploration beyond restrictive structures. Regeneration allows the resumption of energy gathering, through the production of permeable, expandable boundaries. Organisms respond to the invite of resources in the vicinity or around areas of exploration. Resources from areas which no longer participate in energy gathering or exploration recycle to locations where these processes are being sustained. Degeneration leads to often breathtaking displays such as metamorphosis and amnesia.
Gather round, Monday November 11th at 9AM EST, to participate in a lively and lovely discussion of ecological sustainability.
Meet – Ecological Sustainability and Attunement in Changeable Circumstances
