Assessing sustainability in North America's ecosystems using criticality and information theory
Por:
Ramírez-Carrillo E., López-Corona O., Toledo-Roy J.C., Lovett J.C., de León-González F., Osorio-Olvera L., Equihua J., Robredo E., Frank A., Dirzo R., Pérez-Cirera V.
Publicada:
16 jul 2018
Resumen:
Sustainability is a key concept in economic and policy debates.
Nevertheless, it is usually treated only in a qualitative way and has
eluded quantitative analysis. Here, we propose a sustainability index
based on the premise that sustainable systems do not lose or gain Fisher
Information over time. We test this approach using time series data from
the Ameri-Flux network that measures ecosystem respiration, water and
energy fluxes in order to elucidate two key sustainability features:
ecosystem health and stability. A novel definition of ecosystem health
is developed based on the concept of criticality, which implies that if
a system's fluctuations are scale invariant then the system is in a
balance between robustness and adaptability. We define ecosystem
stability by taking an information theory approach that measures its
entropy and Fisher information. Analysis of the Ameriflux consortium big
data set of ecosystem respiration time series is contrasted with land
condition data. In general we find a good agreement between the
sustainability index and land condition data. However, we acknowledge
that the results are a preliminary test of the approach and further
verification will require a multi-signal analysis. For example, high
values of the sustainability index for some croplands are
counter-intuitive and we interpret these results as ecosystems
maintained in artificial health due to continuous human-induced inflows
of matter and energy in the form of soil nutrients and control of
competition, pests and disease.
Filiaciones:
Ramírez-Carrillo E.:
Doctorado en Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco, Ciudad de México, Mexico
López-Corona O.:
Cátedra CONACyT, Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO), Ciudad de México, Mexico
Red Ambiente y Sustentabilidad, Instituto de Ecología A.C. de México (INECOL), Xalapa, Mexico
Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad (C3), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
Toledo-Roy J.C.:
Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad (C3), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
Lovett J.C.:
School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom
de León-González F.:
Departamento de Producción Agrícola y Animal, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Osorio-Olvera L.:
Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Faultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Equihua J.:
Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Robredo E.:
Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Frank A.:
Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad (C3), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
Miembro del Colegio Nacional, Ciudad de México, Mexico
Dirzo R.:
Biology Department, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
Pérez-Cirera V.:
Instituto de Investigación para el Desarrollo con Equidad (EQUIDE), Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de México, Mexico
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