The symbiotic relationship between blind shrimp and the goby fish, with a commentary on irreducible complexity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah James Edmonds
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Original Function ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Symbiotic Relationships ◽  
Irreducible Complexity

Advocates of the concept of irreducible complexity in the natural world have propositionally identified the symbiotic relationship between the blind shrimp and the goby fish as incapable of having naturally evolved. An irreducibly complex system is most commonly identified as “A system…(that) includes a set of well-matched, mutually interacting, nonarbitrarily (sic.) individuated parts such that each part in the set is indispensable to maintaining the system’s basic, and therefore original, function.”, although it may be noted that various definitions and articulations of the concept itself are present in contemporary literature. The concept may be summarized as the idea that certain biological and natural systems and organisms are so intricately complex, that there is no conceivable method by which those systems or organisms could have arisen by “chance” through naturalistic or darwinian evolution. While evolutionists may claim that such systems did indeed evolve naturally, the argument goes, this does not explain how it happened. This type of partnership (as is observed in the symbiotic relationship between the goby fish and the blind shrimp), it is said, had to have been programmed into them by their Creator from the very beginning of their existence. This paper examines such a claim in light of what is known about symbiotic relationships among organisms as they are observed in nature.

Choreographies of the Living

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Rohman
Keyword(s):  
Visual Art ◽  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Felix Guattari ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Human Endeavor ◽  
Theatrical Performance ◽  
Aesthetic Practice ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Aesthetic

Animals seem to be everywhere in contemporary literature, visual art, and performance. But though writers, artists, and performers are now engaging more and more with ideas about animals, and even with actual living animals, their aesthetic practice continues to be interpreted within a primarily human frame of reference—with art itself being understood as an exclusively human endeavor. The critical wager in this book is that the aesthetic impulse itself is profoundly trans-species. Rohman suggests that if we understand artistic and performative impulses themselves as part of our evolutionary inheritance—as that which we borrow, in some sense, from animals and the natural world—the ways we experience, theorize, and value literary, visual, and performance art fundamentally shift. Although other arguments suggest that certain modes of aesthetic expression are closely linked to animality, Rohman argues that the aesthetic is animal, showing how animality and actual animals are at the center of the aesthetic practices of crucial modernist, contemporary, and avant-garde artists. Exploring the implications of the shift from an anthropocentric to a bioaesthetic conception of art, this book turns toward animals as artistic progenitors in a range of case studies that spans print texts, visual art, dance, music, and theatrical performance. Drawing on the ideas of theorists such as Elizabeth Grosz, Jane Bennett, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Jacques Derrida, Una Chaudhuri, Timothy Morton, and Cary Wolfe, Rohman articulates a deep coincidence of the human and animal elaboration of life forces in aesthetic practices.

scholarly journals The Genetic and Physiological Characteristics of the Symbiodinium spp. in the Endemic Anemone Anthopleura Aureoradiata

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jennifer N. Howe
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Rocky Shore ◽  
Temperature Adaptation ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Sea Anemones ◽  
Down Regulation ◽  
Symbiotic Relationships ◽  
Pam Fluorometer ◽  
The Tropics

<p>Photosynthetic dinoflagellates of the genus Symbiodinium form symbiotic relationships with many marine hosts, including cnidarian corals and sea anemones. This partnership is extremely successful in tropical waters leading to a great diversity of coral species and Symbiodinium types. Environmental condition in the tropics are stable, changes to which can lead to destabilization of the symbiotic interactions between the host and symbiont, which in turn can lead to total breakdown of the partnership and expulsion of the symbiont. Temperate symbiotic cnidarian species, especially sea anemones, are less common but locally abundant. Environmental conditions are highly variable with extreme differences in light and temperature. Adaptation to these conditions has led to the success of resilient partnerships, but also to less diversity of Symbiodinium types. This study looked at the relationship between the endemic New Zealand anemone, Anthopleura aureoradiata, and its symbiotic relationship with the Symbiodinium cells it harbours. The aim was to determine why and how this symbiotic relationship is so resilient to the temperate conditions by 1) determining the molecular identity of the Symbiodinium spp. within the anemone, throughout its latitudinal range and through the seasons, and whether any seasonal changes differed between two habitats, the rocky shore and mudflats; 2) comparing the identity of the Symbiodinium spp. in New Zealand with those from four species of anemones from Europe (Cereus pedunculatus, Anthopleura ballii and Anemonia viridis from the south-west of England and Aiptasia mutabilis from Brittany (France)) to establish any differences or similarities between the northern and southern hemispheres; 3) determining whether resilience to environmental conditions is attributed to the Symbiodinium photoprotective mechanisms. A. aureoradiata were collected in early autumn in five sites from the top (Parengarenga Harbour) to the bottom (Stewart Island) of New Zealand for the latitudinal study. Seasonal anemones were collected from a rocky shore in Wellington Harbour (Point Halswell, Kau Bay) and a mudflat at Pauatahanui Inlet. Symbiodinium types were identified to subcladal level using ITS2 sequencing. A low diversity of types was found, with all anemones harbouring algal cells identified as being similar, or identical to, Symbiodinium sp. Mediterranean clade A (Med clade A) and Symbiodinium sp. Amed (Amed). 96.55% of the anemones from the latitudinal study, all the winter anemones, 87.50% of the summer anemones and almost 78% of the autumn anemones harboured Symbiodinium cells most similar or identical to Med clade A. All Symbiodinium sequences from the European anemones also were identified as being similar or identical to Med clade A or Amed, suggesting that the Symbiodinium in A. aureoradiata are likely not endemic. It is not known whether anemones harbour both types simultaneously and whether a change in dominant symbiont type occurs with seasons within anemones by “shuffling”.  The photophysiology of the Symbiodinium cells isolated from the anemones was studied using an Imaging-PAM fluorometer whilst being maintained in six light and temperature treatments. The photosynthetic rate of PSII, energy quenching by NPQ, and photosystem recovery were measured to determine whether the Symbiodinium cells had a strong capacity for photoprotection and were able to down-regulate quickly to reduce photodamage to the chloroplast. The main outcome of this study is that the Symbiodinium cells within A. aureoradiata are very effective in protecting themselves against photo-damage by activating an efficient NPQ system. Down-regulation of the quantum efficiency of PSII under high light conditions appeared to cease altogether. Whether this was a true measurement of down-regulation to stop photodamage, or whether these clade A types use an alternative electron transport that bypasses PSII, and can therefore not be measured with the I-PAM fluorometer technique used, needs to be addressed in future studies.</p>

Natura machinata: artifacts and nature as reciprocal models in Vitruvius

Apeiron ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-445
Author(s):  
Courtney Roby
Keyword(s):  
Thought Experiment ◽  
Material Model ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Natural System ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Roman Culture

Abstract The De architectura of Vitruvius represents architecture as a discipline blending elements of theory and practice, science and social utility, and Greek and Roman culture. His vision of architecture accordingly embraces both the natural and the artificial, emphasizing the connections between their governing principles rather than a polar or antagonistic opposition. He uses this connection to clarify and simplify his descriptions of both natural systems and mechanical artifacts, and to reinforce each body of knowledge using what is known from the other. The analogy between the natural and artificial appears as well in other ancient authors, but Vitruvius restructures this analogy in a distinctive way. His version is predicated on the careful observation of a specific set of mechanical artifacts, each chosen because it models some natural phenomenon particularly well. Artifacts that model natural phenomena, such as clocks and celestial models, help the user to visualize natural systems that may not be subject to direct sensory apprehension because of their great size. He insists that mechanical cleverness can elucidate the divinity within the principles of natural phenomena, which would otherwise remain hidden in the heavens. Vitruvius complements this type of modeling with a reciprocal version in which natural phenomena serve as models to shape technological works like theaters. Throughout the De architectura, Vitruvius proposes a variety of ways in which the natural and artificial can model one another. A material model may replicate the behavior of a natural system which is already known from observation; a material model may replicate unknown but hypothesized behavior of such a system; finally, a hypothesized material model may replicate the hypothesized behavior of a natural system through a kind of thought-experiment. Alternatively, the unknown behavior of one natural system may be hypothesized to resemble the behavior of another natural system known from observation, and this hypothesis applied to the design of man-made artifacts. From this viewpoint, describing technological artifacts and explaining the natural world are mutually reinforcing activities. So, in composing the De architectura, Vitruvius is not merely attempting to provide a picture of the state of the art of technology in his day, but is at the same time seeking to communicate a particular technologically-informed way of understanding natura itself.

scholarly journals An update on the Symbiotic Genomes Database (SymGenDB): a collection of metadata, genomic, genetic and protein sequences, orthologs and metabolic networks of symbiotic organisms

Database ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Reyes-Prieto ◽  
Carlos Vargas-Chávez ◽  
Mercè Llabrés ◽  
Pere Palmer ◽  
Amparo Latorre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Networks ◽  
Directed Acyclic Graphs ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Bacterial Genomes ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Symbiotic Relationships ◽  
Public Resource ◽  
Acyclic Graphs ◽  
Symbiotic Organisms ◽  
Relevant Range

Abstract The Symbiotic Genomes Database (SymGenDB; http://symbiogenomesdb.uv.es/) is a public resource of manually curated associations between organisms involved in symbiotic relationships, maintaining a catalog of completely sequenced/finished bacterial genomes exclusively. It originally consisted of three modules where users could search for the bacteria involved in a specific symbiotic relationship, their genomes and their genes (including their orthologs). In this update, we present an additional module that includes a representation of the metabolic network of each organism included in the database, as Directed Acyclic Graphs (MetaDAGs). This module provides unique opportunities to explore the metabolism of each individual organism and/or to evaluate the shared and joint metabolic capabilities of the organisms of the same genera included in our listing, allowing users to construct predictive analyses of metabolic associations and complementation between systems. We also report a ~25% increase in manually curated content in the database, i.e. bacterial genomes and their associations, with a final count of 2328 bacterial genomes associated to 498 hosts. We describe new querying possibilities for all the modules, as well as new display features for the MetaDAGs module, providing a relevant range of content and utility. This update continues to improve SymGenDB and can help elucidate the mechanisms by which organisms depend on each other.

Exploring the Use of Functional Models as a Foundation for Biomimetic Conceptual Design

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Tinsley ◽  
Prem A. Midha ◽  
Robert L. Nagel ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams ◽  
Robert B. Stone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Flapping Wing ◽  
Functional Modeling ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Functional Models ◽  
Biological World ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
High Level

The natural world provides numerous cases for analogy and inspiration. From simple cases such as hook and latch attachments to articulated-wing flying vehicles, nature provides many sources for ideas. Though biological systems provide a wealth of elegant and ingenious approaches to problem solving, there are challenges that prevent designers from leveraging the full insight of the biological world into the designed world. This paper describes how those challenges can be overcome through functional analogy. Through the creation of a function-based repository, designers can find biomimetic solutions by searching the function for which a solution is needed. A biomimetic function-based repository enables learning, practicing and researching designers to fully leverage the elegance and insight of the natural world. In this paper, we present the initial efforts of functional modeling natural systems and then transferring the principles of the natural system to an engineered system. Four case studies are presented in this paper. These case studies include a biological solution to a problem found in nature and engineered solutions corresponding to the high level functionality of the biological solution, i.e., a fly’s winged flight and a flapping wing aircraft. The case studies show that unique, creative engineered solutions can be generated through functional analogy with nature.

Sleeping with the enemy: unravelling the symbiotic relationships between the scale worm Neopolynoe chondrocladiae (Annelida: Polynoidae) and its carnivorous sponge hosts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergi Taboada ◽  
Ana Serra Silva ◽  
Cristina Díez-Vives ◽  
Lenka Neal ◽  
Javier Cristobo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Faecal Pellet ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Symbiotic Relationships ◽  
The North ◽  
Real Nature ◽  
Mutualistic Relationship ◽  
Microct Analysis ◽  
Microscopy Images

Abstract The North Atlantic deep-water polynoid worm Neopolynoe chondrocladiae is involved in an exceptional symbiotic relationship with two hosts: the carnivorous sponges Chondrocladia robertballardi and Chondrocladia virgata. While this is an obligate symbiotic relationship, its real nature is unclear. We used a multidisciplinary approach to narrow down the type of symbiotic relationship between symbiont and hosts. Molecular connectivity analyses using COI and 16S suggest that N. chondrocladiae has high potential for dispersal, connecting sites hundreds of kilometres apart, likely aided by oceanographic currents. Microbial analyses on different anatomical parts of five Chondrocladia species suggest that the presence of the worm in C. robertballardi does not affect the microbiome of the sponge. MicroCT analysis on N. chondrocladiae show that it has dorsally oriented parapodia, which might prevent the worm from getting trapped in the sponge. A faecal pellet recovered from the worm suggests that the polynoid feeds on the crustacean prey captured by the sponge, something corroborated by our stable isotope analysis. Light and confocal microscopy images suggest that N. chondrocladiae elytra produce bioluminescence. We propose that the worm might use bioluminescence as a lure for prey (increasing the food available for both the sponge and the polynoid) and thus fuelling a mutualistic relationship.

Figuring Korean Futures

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dafna Zur
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Organic Part ◽  
Future Aspirations ◽  
Individual Family ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Child Reader ◽  
First Time

This book is the story of the emergence and development of writing for children in modern Korea. In the 1920s, a narrator-adult voice began to speak for the first time directly to a child-reader whose mind was deemed knowable and moldable. Writers and educators saw the qualities of this unique child audience manifest in a new concept called the child-heart, or tongsim. This book examines children’s literature at the moment the child emerged as a powerful metaphor of Korea’s future, through the colonization of Korea, and up until the ideological entrenchment that intensified in the post-liberation period. By reading children’s periodicals against the political, educational, and psychological discourses of their time, this book argues that the child-heart concept was particularly productive for the project of modernity and nation-building, as well as for the colonial and postcolonial projects of socialization and nationalization, because it posited the child in a symbiotic relationship with the natural world that allowed for explorations of the meaning of culture and nature at a time when culture and nature were deeply contested. This book reveals a trajectory of Korean children’s prose and poetry that begins with depictions of the child as an organic part of nature and ends with the child as the agent of the control of nature. Ultimately, the book reveals the complex ways the figure of the child became a driving force of nostalgia that stood in for future aspirations for the individual, family, class, and nation.

scholarly journals The Genetic and Physiological Characteristics of the Symbiodinium spp. in the Endemic Anemone Anthopleura Aureoradiata

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jennifer N. Howe
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Rocky Shore ◽  
Temperature Adaptation ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Sea Anemones ◽  
Down Regulation ◽  
Symbiotic Relationships ◽  
Pam Fluorometer ◽  
The Tropics

<p>Photosynthetic dinoflagellates of the genus Symbiodinium form symbiotic relationships with many marine hosts, including cnidarian corals and sea anemones. This partnership is extremely successful in tropical waters leading to a great diversity of coral species and Symbiodinium types. Environmental condition in the tropics are stable, changes to which can lead to destabilization of the symbiotic interactions between the host and symbiont, which in turn can lead to total breakdown of the partnership and expulsion of the symbiont. Temperate symbiotic cnidarian species, especially sea anemones, are less common but locally abundant. Environmental conditions are highly variable with extreme differences in light and temperature. Adaptation to these conditions has led to the success of resilient partnerships, but also to less diversity of Symbiodinium types. This study looked at the relationship between the endemic New Zealand anemone, Anthopleura aureoradiata, and its symbiotic relationship with the Symbiodinium cells it harbours. The aim was to determine why and how this symbiotic relationship is so resilient to the temperate conditions by 1) determining the molecular identity of the Symbiodinium spp. within the anemone, throughout its latitudinal range and through the seasons, and whether any seasonal changes differed between two habitats, the rocky shore and mudflats; 2) comparing the identity of the Symbiodinium spp. in New Zealand with those from four species of anemones from Europe (Cereus pedunculatus, Anthopleura ballii and Anemonia viridis from the south-west of England and Aiptasia mutabilis from Brittany (France)) to establish any differences or similarities between the northern and southern hemispheres; 3) determining whether resilience to environmental conditions is attributed to the Symbiodinium photoprotective mechanisms. A. aureoradiata were collected in early autumn in five sites from the top (Parengarenga Harbour) to the bottom (Stewart Island) of New Zealand for the latitudinal study. Seasonal anemones were collected from a rocky shore in Wellington Harbour (Point Halswell, Kau Bay) and a mudflat at Pauatahanui Inlet. Symbiodinium types were identified to subcladal level using ITS2 sequencing. A low diversity of types was found, with all anemones harbouring algal cells identified as being similar, or identical to, Symbiodinium sp. Mediterranean clade A (Med clade A) and Symbiodinium sp. Amed (Amed). 96.55% of the anemones from the latitudinal study, all the winter anemones, 87.50% of the summer anemones and almost 78% of the autumn anemones harboured Symbiodinium cells most similar or identical to Med clade A. All Symbiodinium sequences from the European anemones also were identified as being similar or identical to Med clade A or Amed, suggesting that the Symbiodinium in A. aureoradiata are likely not endemic. It is not known whether anemones harbour both types simultaneously and whether a change in dominant symbiont type occurs with seasons within anemones by “shuffling”.  The photophysiology of the Symbiodinium cells isolated from the anemones was studied using an Imaging-PAM fluorometer whilst being maintained in six light and temperature treatments. The photosynthetic rate of PSII, energy quenching by NPQ, and photosystem recovery were measured to determine whether the Symbiodinium cells had a strong capacity for photoprotection and were able to down-regulate quickly to reduce photodamage to the chloroplast. The main outcome of this study is that the Symbiodinium cells within A. aureoradiata are very effective in protecting themselves against photo-damage by activating an efficient NPQ system. Down-regulation of the quantum efficiency of PSII under high light conditions appeared to cease altogether. Whether this was a true measurement of down-regulation to stop photodamage, or whether these clade A types use an alternative electron transport that bypasses PSII, and can therefore not be measured with the I-PAM fluorometer technique used, needs to be addressed in future studies.</p>

The Environmental Crisis in Latin America

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Castro H.
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
History Of ◽  
Peasant Resistance ◽  
Modes Of Interaction

An environmental crisis is neither the result of a single factor nor of a combination of such. On the contrary, it results from a complex combination of modes of interaction between natural and social systems, operating for periods in time and space. This holds true for the environmental crisis in Latin America, understood within the context of the first global environmental crisis in the history of our species. The combination of facts and processes with respect to the crisis in Latin America is associated with three distinct and interdependent historical periods: (1) The first period, one of long duration, marks the interaction with the natural world of the first humans to occupy the Americas and encompasses a timespan of at least 15,000 years before the European conquest of 1500–1550. (2) The second period, one of medium duration, corresponds to European control of the region between the 16th and 19th centuries, a timespan that witnessed the creation of tributary societies grounded in noncapitalist forms of organization, such as the indigenous commune, feudal primogeniture, and the great ecclesiastical properties, which were characteristics of peripheral economies that existed within the wider framework of the emerging modern global economic system. (3) The third period, one of shorter duration, extended from 1870 to 1970 during which capitalist forms of relationships between social systems and natural systems in the region developed. This period was succeeded, beginning about 1980, by decades of transition and crisis, a process that is still ongoing. In this transition, old and unresolved conflicts reemerge in a new context, which combines indigenous and peasant resistance to incorporation into a market economy with the fight of urban dwellers for access to the basic environmental conditions for life, such as safe drinking water, waste disposal, energy, and clean air. In this scenario, a culture of nature is taking shape, which combines general democratic demands with values and visions from indigenous and African American cultures and those of a middle-class intellectuality increasingly linked to global environmentalism. This culture faces state policies often associated with the interests of transnational corporations and complex negotiation processes for agreements on global environmental problems. In this process, the actions of the past have led to the emergence of a great diversity of development options, all of which are centered in one basic fact: that, in Latin America as elsewhere around the word, if we want a different environment we need to create different societies.

Science and Humanity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Steane
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
To Come ◽  
Science Educators ◽  
The Relationship

This volume offers an in-depth presentation of the structure of science and the nature of the physical world, with a view to showing how it complements and does not replace other types of human activity, such as the arts and humanities, spirituality and religion. The aim is to better inform scientists, science educators, and the general public. Many think that science can and does establish that the natural world is a vast machine, and this is the whole truth of ourselves and our environment. This is wrong. In fact, scientific models employ a rich network of interconnecting concepts, and the overall picture suggests the full validity of further forms of truth-seeking and truth-speaking, such as art, jurisprudence, and the like. In fundamental physics, the equations that describe physical behaviour interact in a subtle symbiotic way with symmetry principles which describe overarching guidelines. The relationship between physics and biology is similar, and so is the relationship between biology and the humanities. Darwinian evolution is an exploratory mechanism which allows richer patterns and truths to come to be expressed; it does not negate or replace those truths. The area of values, of what can or should command our allegiance, requires a different kind of response, a response that is not completely captured by logical argument, but which is central to human life. Religion, when it is understood correctly and done well, is the engagement with the idea that we have a meaningful role to play, and much to learn.

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