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Angeler DG, Fried-Petersen HB. Parallels of quantum superposition in ecological models: from counterintuitive patterns to eco-evolutionary interpretations of cryptic species. BMC Ecol Evol 2024; 24:15. [PMID: 38287267 PMCID: PMC10826053 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-024-02206-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 01/31/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Superposition, i.e. the ability of a particle (electron, photon) to occur in different states or positions simultaneously, is a hallmark in the subatomic world of quantum mechanics. Although counterintuitive at first sight, the quantum world has potential to inform macro-systems of people and nature. Using time series and spatial analysis of bird, phytoplankton and benthic invertebrate communities, this paper shows that superposition can occur analogously in redundancy analysis (RDA) frequently used by ecologists. RESULTS We show that within individual ecosystems single species can be associated simultaneously with different orthogonal axes in RDA models, which suggests that they operate in more than one niche spaces. We discuss this counterintuitive result in relation to the statistical and mathematical features of RDA and the recognized limitations with current traditional species concepts based on vegetative morphology. CONCLUSION We suggest that such "quantum weirdness" in the models is reconcilable with classical ecosystems logic when the focus of research shifts from morphological species to cryptic species that consist of genetically and ecologically differentiated subpopulations. We support our argument with theoretical discussions of eco-evolutionary interpretations that should become testable once suitable data are available.
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Affiliation(s)
- David G Angeler
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7050, Uppsala, 750 07, Sweden.
- School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
- IMPACT, The Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia.
- Brain Capital Alliance, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Hannah B Fried-Petersen
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7050, Uppsala, 750 07, Sweden
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD), Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, N-7491, Norway
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Riera R, Herrera AM, Rodríguez RA. Relationships between ergodic indicators of dispersal intensity, IUCN Red List values, and selected environmental variables in connection with European birds whose foraging and flying behavior is associated to roads and highways. J Nat Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jnc.2021.126083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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EcoQBNs: First Application of Ecological Modeling with Quantum Bayesian Networks. ENTROPY 2021; 23:e23040441. [PMID: 33918806 PMCID: PMC8069849 DOI: 10.3390/e23040441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 03/31/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
A recent advancement in modeling was the development of quantum Bayesian networks (QBNs). QBNs generally differ from BNs by substituting traditional Bayes calculus in probability tables with the quantum amplification wave functions. QBNs can solve a variety of problems which are unsolvable by, or are too complex for, traditional BNs. These include problems with feedback loops and temporal expansions; problems with non-commutative dependencies in which the order of the specification of priors affects the posterior outcomes; problems with intransitive dependencies constituting the circular dominance of the outcomes; problems in which the input variables can affect each other, even if they are not causally linked (entanglement); problems in which there may be >1 dominant probability outcome dependent on small variations in inputs (superpositioning); and problems in which the outcomes are nonintuitive and defy traditional probability calculus (Parrondo’s paradox and the violation of the Sure Thing Principle). I present simple examples of these situations illustrating problems in prediction and diagnosis, and I demonstrate how BN solutions are infeasible, or at best require overly-complex latent variable structures. I then argue that many problems in ecology and evolution can be better depicted with ecological QBN (EcoQBN) modeling. The situations that fit these kinds of problems include noncommutative and intransitive ecosystems responding to suites of disturbance regimes with no specific or single climax condition, or that respond differently depending on the specific sequence of the disturbances (priors). Case examples are presented on the evaluation of habitat conditions for a bat species, representing state-transition models of a boreal forest under disturbance, and the entrainment of auditory signals among organisms. I argue that many current ecological analysis structures—such as state-and-transition models, predator–prey dynamics, the evolution of symbiotic relationships, ecological disturbance models, and much more—could greatly benefit from a QBN approach. I conclude by presenting EcoQBNs as a nascent field needing the further development of the quantum mathematical structures and, eventually, adjuncts to existing BN modeling shells or entirely new software programs to facilitate model development and application.
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Degrees of freedom: Definitions and their minimum and most meaningful combination for the modelling of ecosystem dynamics with the help of physical principles. Ecol Modell 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2018.11.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Rodríguez RA, Duncan JM, Delgado JD, Vanni MJ, Riera R, González MJ. Additional empirical evidence on the intrinsic trend to stationarity in the long run and the nested relationship between abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic factors starting from the organic biophysics of ecosystems (OBEC). Ecol Modell 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2018.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
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Real R, Barbosa AM, Bull JW. Species Distributions, Quantum Theory, and the Enhancement of Biodiversity Measures. Syst Biol 2018; 66:453-462. [PMID: 27616323 DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syw072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2015] [Accepted: 08/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Species distributions are typically represented by records of their observed occurrence at a given spatial and temporal scale. Such records are inevitably incomplete and contingent on the spatial-temporal circumstances under which the observations were made. Moreover, organisms may respond differently to similar environmental conditions at different places or moments, so their distribution is, in principle, not completely predictable. We argue that this uncertainty exists, and warrants considering species distributions as analogous to coherent quantum objects, whose distributions are better described by a wavefunction rather than by a set of locations. We use this to extend the existing concept of "dark diversity", which incorporates into biodiversity metrics those species that could, but which have not yet been observed to, inhabit a region-thereby developing the idea of "potential biodiversity". We show how conceptualizing species' distributions in this way could help overcome important weaknesses in current biodiversity metrics, both in theory and by using a worked case study of mammal distributions in Spain over the last decade. We propose that considerable theoretical advances could eventually be gained through interdisciplinary collaboration between biogeographers and quantum physicists. [Biogeography; favorability; physics; predictability; probability; species occurrence; uncertainty; wavefunction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raimundo Real
- Biogeography, Diversity and Conservation Lab, Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
| | | | - Joseph W Bull
- Department of Food and Resource Economics and Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Copenhagen, Denmark
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Rodríguez RA, Riera R, Delgado JD. Ecology: Science or philately? An interdisciplinary analysis of sustainability by exploring if it is possible to get more and more information by reducing collateral environmental damages. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2017; 596-597:43-52. [PMID: 28412570 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.04.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2017] [Revised: 04/05/2017] [Accepted: 04/07/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
We herein explore the connections between the current condition of ecology concerning to sustainable development and the statement of Rutherford regarding the importance of physics to understand sustainability and biological conservation. The recent emergence of organic biophysics of ecosystems (OBEC) may constitute a feasible alternative to fill the gap between conventional ecological thinking and physics, especially thermodynamics. However, our comprehension of sustainability and biological conservation is influenced by the interactions between information and entropy, because we tend to exclude parts of the biosphere as well as their relationships among them. We explore the use of a holistic analysis of sustainability and biological conservation using physics, and also establish a parallelism between Maxwell's demons and human beings. Lastly, the ecological meaning of the hypothetical feasibility of Maxwell's demon at the anthroposphere scale is analyzed starting from the objections of von Smoluchowski, Szilard and Bennet.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo A Rodríguez
- Department of Biology 232 PSN, Pearson Hall, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
| | - Rodrigo Riera
- Environmental Research Center of the Atlantic (C.I.M.A.), Av. Los Majuelos, 115, 38107 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Spain.
| | - Juan D Delgado
- Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, Faculty of Experimental Sciences, University Pablo de Olavide, E-41013 Sevilla, Spain
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Assessment of ecosystem trophodynamic power: A model based on the power equation for an oscillating string. Ecol Modell 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.08.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Exploring the analytical consequences of ecological subjects unwittingly neglected by the mainstream of evolutionary thought. Ecol Modell 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.03.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Rodríguez RA, Herrera AM, Duncan J, Riera R, Quirós Á, Perdomo ME, Jiménez-Rodríguez A, Fernández-Palacios JM, Vanni MJ, Otto R, Escudero CG, Camarena T, Navarro-Cerrillo RM, Delgado JD, González MJ. Response to comments on “Uncertainty principle in niche assessment: A solution to the dilemma redundancy vs. competitive exclusion, and some analytical consequences”. Ecol Modell 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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From a stationary to a non-stationary ecological state equation: Adding a tool for ecological monitoring. Ecol Modell 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.08.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Rodríguez RA, Herrera AM, Santander J, Miranda JV, Fernández-Rodríguez MJ, Quirós Á, Riera R, Fernández-Palacios JM, Otto R, Escudero CG, Jiménez-Rodríguez A, Navarro-Cerrillo RM, Perdomo ME, Delgado JD. Uncertainty principle in niche assessment: A solution to the dilemma redundancy vs. competitive exclusion, and some analytical consequences. Ecol Modell 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.07.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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