p.75 But just as we need not consider all cell-to-cell interactions whenever
we discuss a single organism, so we need not consider all possible species-to-species interactions whenever we discuss
ecosystems. [JLJ - or in playing a game, we need not consider all piece-to-piece interactions.]
p.76 Essentially all science is the study of either very small bits
of reality or simplified surrogates for complex whole systems. How we simplify can be critical. Careless simplification leads
to misleadingly simplistic conclusions (Slobodkin 1992).
p.78-79 The most effective models are often as limited in the direction of their responses as the Maginot
Line.
We are left with the problem of answering questions we cannot completely anticipate about
systems of enormous complexity which we at best partially understand.
p.82 Recall Elton's trivial-sounding assertion: "When an ecologist says 'there goes a badger' he should
include in his thoughts some definite idea of the animal's place in the community to which it belongs, just as if he said
'there goes the vicar'" (Elton 1936, p.64)... In this way the presence of a well understood organism provides specific inferences,
which are at least explicit and testable. Knowledge of the biology of an organism, even if the organism itself is not found,
lends some significant information to the observation of species with which it is known to interact. I focused on the hydra
but the approach is a general one.
p.82 For reasons of computational simplicity, no reasonable model attempts to answer all possible
questions.
The Effects of Stress on Benthic Algal Communities
p.1 Stress is an imprecise concept... one of us chose the definition: "Stress may be said to occur
when physiological (or other) processes are altered in such a way as to render the individual less fit for
survival" (Brett 1958), while the other likes Grime's (1989) definition that invokes the term "stress" to describe
"external constraints limiting the rates of resource acquisition, growth or reproduction of organisms". Certainly
the most obvious symptoms of stress are alterations in the plant's performance.
