Ecoacoustic codes and ecological complexity

On the semantics of ecoacoustic codes

Ecological codes have been defined as every biological code integrated by factors originated by the environmental context that participates in the codepoiesis process. Ecological codes create a strict relationship between the inner world of organsims and the external relational world, and represent the mechanism with which the vivo-scape is realized. Acoustic codes are used in nature to decode acoustic signals between individuals of the same or different species and belong to the category of biological codes. Ecoacoustic codes are the outcome of the evolution of acoustic codes, and results as the interplay between acoustic codes and environmental factors. Soundtope codes represent the results of emerging properties of the acoustic communities.

Control Analysis of Stochastic Lagging Discrete Ecosystems

In this paper, control analysis of a stochastic lagging discrete ecosystem is investigated. Two-dimensional stochastic hysteresis discrete ecosystem equilibrium points with symmetry are discussed, and the dynamical behavior of equilibrium points with symmetry and their control analysis is discussed. Using the orthogonal polynomial approximation theory, the stochastic lagged discrete ecosystems are approximately transformed as its equivalent deterministic ecosystem. Based on the stability and bifurcation theory of deterministic discrete systems, through mathematical analysis, asymptotic stability and Hopf bifurcation are existent in the ecosystem, constructing control functions, controlling the behavior of the system dynamics. Finally, the effects of different random strengths on the bifurcation control and asymptotic stability control are verified by numerical simulations, which validate the correctness and effectiveness of the main results of this paper.

The major evolutionary transitions and codes of life

Major evolutionary transitions as well as the evolution of codes of life are key elements in macroevolution which are characterized by increase in complexity Major evolutionary transitions ensues by a transition in individuality and by the evolution of a novel mode of using, transmitting or storing information. Here is where codes of life enter the picture: they are arbitrary mappings between different (mostly) molecular species. This flexibility allows information to be employed in a variety of ways, which can fuel evolutionary innovation. The collation of the list of major evolutionary transitions and the list of codes of life show a clear pattern: codes evolved prior to a major evolutionary transition and then played roles in the transition and/or in the transformation of the new individual. The evolution of a new code of life is in itself not a major evolutionary transition but allow major evolutionary transitions to happen. This could help us to identify new organic codes.

Metacode: One code to rule them all

The code of codes or metacode is a microcosm where biological layers, as well as their codes, interact together allowing the continuity of information flow in organisms by increasing biological entities' complexity. Through this novel organic code, biological systems scale towards niches with higher informatic freedom building structures that increase the entropy in the universe. Code biology has developed a novel informational framework where biological entities strive themselves through the information flow carried out through organic codes consisting of two molecular or functional landscapes intertwined through arbitrary linkages via an adaptor whose nature is autonomous from molecular determinism. Here we will integrate genomic and epigenomic codes according to the evidence released in ENCODE (phase 3), psychENCODE and GTEx project, outlining the principles of the metacode, to address the continuous nature of biological systems and their inter-layered information flow. This novel complex metacode maps from very constrained sets of elements (i.e., regulation sites modulating gene expression) to new ones with greater freedom of decoding (i.e., a continuous cell phenotypic space). This leads to a new domain in code biology where biological systems are informatic attractors that navigate an energy metaspace through a complexity-noise balance, stalling in emergent niches where organic codes take meaning.

Acoustic codes from a rural sanctuary: How ecoacoustic events operate across a landscape scale

Sonotopes are the acoustic patches of a soundscape, composed by different occurrences of geophonies, biophonies, and technophonies. According an ecosemiotic perspective, ecoacoustic events (EEs) are the vehicles from the attribution of meaning to the emergent sonotopes and work as neural codes. The process of encoding is suggested to be active between the perception of sonotopes and EE detection. In Ortolano Rural Sanctuary, from a grid of 12 acoustic digital recorders (ADRs) at an average distance of 30 m each with a microphone set to receive sounds from a near acoustic field, 824,160 one-minute acoustic files were obtained from October 2017 to September 2018. From these files, using the combination of three acoustic complexity indices (ACI_ft, ACI_ft evenness, and ACI_tf evenness), through the ecoacoustic event detection and identification (EEDI) procedure, more than 200 EEs on average per ADR were extracted during this period. The EEs were seasonally aggregated with a significant separation between fall-winter and spring-summer periods. Rain and wind were important in EE composition according to location and seasonality. The number of EEs detected from just one month to three months was 57% of the total, and the first of the nine classes of ACI_ft belonged to 78% of all classes of abundance. The EEs and ACI_tf similarity were not correlated with the distance between ADRs, confirming the correctness of the near-field approach to detect sounds from landscapes and EE spatial independence. The ranging capacities to distinguish distance from sound sources and to discriminate the temporal and frequential patterns of acoustic signals are some of the mechanisms that species use to detect and encode environmental acoustic complexity. Species are supposed to use EE to explore and assess the acoustic habitat and probably to obtain mental maps of the surroundings they must move around using an acoustic exploration.