Criticality and scaling in evolutionary ecology

Abstract

Fluctuations in ecological systems are known to involve a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, often displaying self-similar (fractal) properties. Recent theoretical approaches are trying to shed light on the nature of these complex dynamics. The results suggest that complexity in ecology and evolution comes from the network-like structure of multispecies communities that are close to instability. If true, these ideas might change our understanding of how complexity emerges in the biosphere and how macroevolutionary events could be decoupled from microevolutionary ones.