Chaos by chance

2008/02/14 Lakar Iraizoz, Oihane - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Zoologia
• Ekologia

After eight years of study of a plankton community in the Baltic Sea, a group of researchers from the University of Amsterdam pointed out that population dynamics are chaotic, that is, there is no balance in nature.

The populations of the species that form any ecosystem have large fluctuations. Until now, these incidents were considered due to changes in the environment conditions. To check if it was so, the Herbeereta group eliminated these changes in the environment, keeping constant temperature, salinity, luminosity and ventilation during these eight years.

These conditions also showed great ups and downs in the community under study. This means that the very competitiveness among species is what causes at times the proliferation and decrease of some. Advanced mathematical techniques also showed that the plankton community dominated the chaos.

Photo: Jolanda van Iperen (NIOZ)