Complexity Digest 2004.16 - 11

20-April-2004

On 01-May-2004 Complexity Digest will co-sponsor a panel discussion with leading scientists on cultural factors affecting impact of science in Taiwan.(http://www.comdig2.de/conf/ntsec04)

Ecolab, Webworld and Self-organisation, arXiv Bookmark and Share

Abstract: Ecolab and Webworld are both models of evolution produced by adding evolution to ecological equations. They differ primarily in the form of the ecological equations. Both models are self-organised to a state where extinctions balance speciations. However, Ecolab shows evidence of this self-organised state being critical, whereas Webworld does not. This paper examines the self-organised states of these two models and suggest the likely cause of the difference. Also the lifetime distribution for a mean field version of Ecolab is computed, showing that the fat tail of the distribution is due to coevolutionary adaption of the species.