Complex Systems

Distributed Self-regulation in Ecological and Economic Systems Download PDF

V. V. Gafiychuk
Electronic mail address: viva@iapmm.lviv.ua.
Institute for Applied Problems of Mechanics and Mathematics,
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
3b Naukova str., Lviv, 290601, Ukraine

I. A. Lubashevsky
Electronic mail address: ialub@fpl.gpi.ru.
Institute of General Physics,
Academy of Science of Russian Federation,
Vavilova street, 38, Moscow, 117942, Russia

R. E. Ulanowicz
Electronic mail address: ulan@cbl.umces.edu.
University of Maryland Chesapeake Biological Laboratory,
Solomons, MD, 20688, USA

Abstract

We consider an ecological system governed by Lotka-Volterra dynamics and an example of an economic system as a mesomarket with perfect competition. We propose a mechanism for cooperative self-regulation that enables the system under consideration to respond properly to changes in the environment. This mechanism is based on (1) active individual behavior of the system elements at each hierarchical level and (2) self-processing of information caused by the hierarchical organization. It is shown how the proposed mechanism suppresses nonlocal interaction of elements belonging to a particular level as mediated by higher levels.