Degeneracy: a link between evolvability, robustness and complexity in biological systems

A full accounting of biological robustness remains elusive; both in terms of the mechanisms by which robustness is achieved and the forces that have caused robustness to grow over evolutionary time. Although its importance to topics such as ecosystem services and resilience is well recognized, the broader relationship between robustness and evolution is only starting to be fully appreciated. A renewed interest in this relationship has been prompted by evidence that mutational robustness can play a positive role in the discovery of adaptive innovations (evolvability) and evidence of an intimate relationship between robustness and complexity in biology. This paper offers a new perspective on the mechanics of evolution and the origins of complexity, robustness, and evolvability. Here we explore the hypothesis that degeneracy, a partial overlap in the functioning of multi-functional components, plays a central role in the evolution and robustness of complex forms. In support of this hypothesis, we present evidence that degeneracy is a fundamental source of robustness, it is intimately tied to multi-scaled complexity, and it establishes conditions that are necessary for system evolvability

A COEVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING THE PARADOX OF SOCIAL PRESSURES VERSUS ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ACROSS THE WORLD'S FOOD CHAINS

Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Simulation Modeling of Occupational Health of Tourism and Hospitality Workers

Tourism and hospitality research has utilized mostly traditional approaches to understand and explain observed phenomena. Complexity science offers great potential for studying the complex dynamical system of tourism and hospitality with greater effectiveness. The accelerating pace of technological advances, destabilization of societies, and increasing levels of uncertainty have fueled the emergence of chaos and complexity perspectives. Social scientists are increasingly viewing the conceptual and statistical assumptions underlying the linear paradigm as being seriously flawed and limiting our ability to explain social phenomena. Innovative complex-systems approaches grounded in complex adaptive systems (CAS) theoretical, methodological, and analytical perspectives have potential to lead to greater understanding of various phenomena. The foregoing methods and tools will be discussed in the context of occupational health of Hispanic immigrant hospitality sector workers

The Influence of the Level of Environmental Complexity and Turbulence on the Choice of Marketing Tactics

This paper proposes that the choice of marketing tactics is influenced by the company’s external environment. It aims to illustrate the marketing tactics suggested for a complex, turbulent environment, when marketing and the environment are viewed through a complexity lens. A quantitative, descriptive, cross sectional study was used, based on an e-mailed survey to a purchased mailing list, which resulted in a sample of 860 senior marketing or sales managers in medium to large profit oriented businesses in South Africa. The study found that the manager’s evaluation of the environment as complex/turbulent was important, and that there is a relationship between the use of destabilizing marketing tactics and complex/turbulent environments. Although there is only a limited relationship with ‘success’, the study generally stresses the importance of destabilizing tactics, and in fact, all marketing tactics, in a complex/turbulent environment. Most work on complexity in marketing has concentrated on strategy, with little emphasis on tactics and the marketing mix. Therefore, this paper is an important contribution to the understanding of marketing mix choices, of interest to both practicing marketers and marketing academics