Consumption in

Nature & Physiology

Introduction

Discussion on consumption regulation in nature (either plants or animals)

inspiring exmaples about consumption patterns and behavior in an ecosystem

The emphasis is on the collective reaction of the species in deficiency esp. shortage of food

OUTLINE1. Homeostasis1. Homeostasis

2. Microbic intelligence 2. Microbic intelligence

5.Plants & Trees5.Plants & Trees

3. Cells3. Cells

4. Swarm Intelligence4. Swarm Intelligence

6.Hibernation6.Hibernation

7. Fetus7. Fetus

Homeostasis

Trees

Hibernation

cells

Swarm intelligenceBactrial intelligence

Homeostasis

•Claude Bernard, 1865

In 1865 Claude Bernard noticed, in his Introduction to Experimental Medicine. that the "constancy of the internal milieu was the essential condition to a free life“.

•Walter Cannon, 1929

the American physiologist Walter Cannon. In 1932, impressed by "the wisdom of the body" capable of guaranteeing with such efficiency the control of the physiological equilibrium, Cannon coined the word homeostasis from two Greek words

Homeo - sameness Stasis - standing still

Since then the concept of homeostasy has had a central position in the field of cybernetics

Brief HistoryBrief History

Homeostasis

An ecosystem regulates itself.

Homeostasis is the dynamic equilibrium among the living members of an ecosystem, against environmental conditions, such as wind rainfall, nutrient availability, air quality, and climate.

Balance = Homeostasis

Homeostasis: the most remarkable and most typical properties of highly complex

systems. Ex. an industrial firm, a large organization, a cell Ecological, biological, and social systems are homeostatic.

multiplicity of dynamic equilibriums rigorously controlled by interdependent regulation mechanisms.

reacts to every change in the environment, or to every random disturbance,

statesmen, business leaders, and sociologists know the effects only too well.

For a complex system it must adapt itself to modifications of the environment and it must evolve.

The paradoxical situation : How can a stable organization whose goal is to maintain itself and endure be able to change and evolve?

Homeostasis

1. A system variable. This is the characteristic (e.g., temperature) that needs to be regulated.

2. A set point. The ideal or most appropriate value of the system variable.

3. A detector. The actual or current value of the system variable needs to be assessed.

4. A correctional mechanism. This serves to reduce or eliminate the discrepancy between the actual value and the ideal value.

Homeostasis

When the temperature falls too low, the boiler

of the central heating system is activated to restore the chosen temperature (sense & correction)

homeostatic systems are characterized by redundancy. ie : destruction of one part of the system can be compensated for by other parts of the system.

(ie: joint responsibility Compensation)

Some Characteristic Of control systems Positive feedback mechanisms

usually control infrequent events that are self perpetuating and explosive

do not control events which require continuous adjustments to promote moment-to-moment well-being

Feed-forward (delayed negative feedback) (adaptive control) The brain correct feed-forward signals for the NEXT time E.g. :Movement of the body parts

Conformity & RegulationConformity & Regulation

range of tolerance

outer zone of morbidity & disease

range of tolerance

Regulation causes reduced fluctuationRegulation causes reduced fluctuation

•not perfect

•takes time

Advantages of Warm-blooded animals

گرم خون سرد خون

: مارمولک و پرنده مثال

why Communication systems?

In complex multicellular organisms, only the surface cells that are in contact with the external environment are able to exchange substances with it. Cells within the organism however are too far away from the environment for direct exchange.

transport systems such as the circulatory system. The blood brings gases and nutrients from the external environment to the cells and removes waste products from them.

Unless changes in the external environment alter the internal environment, there will be little effect on the cells themselves. So if the organism maintains the internal environment constant, it protects the cells from external changes. The cellular enzymes can function efficiently at all times no matter what is happening in the external environment.

Communication systems in the body Nervous system

1. Sensory inputs (state of the body and the surrounding)

2. Central nervous system

3. Motor output system

Hormonal System (endocrine systems )

Small plant & bacteria

Providing nutrient

Larger species

Pioneers die

Infertile soil

Ecosystem Succession Succession usually occurs in areas

where no other species offer competition in the area.

Succession, can occur in changing climates, where less suited species give way to the more evolutionary adapted species of the area.

In a more stable environment, a climax community develops, the climax being that the community stays in a relative equilibrium over a long period of time

گرسنگی

>= یادگیری آن پیامد و غذا مزه( اند ( داشته زیاد کالری است خوب شیرینی( اند ( بوده سمی اغلب است بد تلخی

) نرخ بدن، دمای خون، قند گرسنگی در موثر عواملمتابولیسم)

بلکه نیست تعادل کسب از ناشی فقط مشوق گرسنگیسیری ( احساس بدهیم غذا معده به لوله با اگر میخواهد

. از ناشی سیری احساس کند !)یادگیری نمی است

الغری رژیم

اشتها کردن کور تنظیم نقطه آوردن پایین( نیکوتین ( مثل داروها برخی ساز و سوخت افزایش جراحی با چربی بافتهای کاهشروانشناختی

،میگیرد نادیده را غذا به میل که همانقدر است ممکن خویشتنداری! بگیرد ندیده هم را سیری احساس

= کاهش : غذا نخوردن رژیمها برخی ندادن جواب دلیل!! ساز= و سوخت کاهش کالری

هموستاسیس مفاهیم نباشد اگر بدن اسکلت و عضالت شد سیستم خواهد خراب انسان دربرود مناسب غذای و مکان سراغ موقع به تواند نمی بدن که چرا

Overeating (Has evolution programmed us to overeat?) Why so many people overeat? Animal In the wild, Food source are often sporadic and unpredictable It would run the risk of starving or falling prey by other animals Overeating = ample energy resource

Cafeteria diet effect (positive incentive)

Consuming variety of foods (essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients , …)

از اخیر های ده در خوشمزه غذاهای تولید سریع سازگاری رشد و سرعتاست بوده بیشتر تکامل

Homeostasis

Members of a species will require a minimum amount of food : compete with fellow members of the same species

(intraspecific competition) compete with other species (interspecific competition).

Increase in population limitation of food increase in death (usually by endocrine (hormone) system damage.) populaton decreases.

Homeostasis (Examples)Lemmings Lemmings :

When their population cycle peaks and food runs out, they sometimes migrate, but more commonly their crowding-induced thyroid disease kills them suddenly.

Large owls are early breeders. The homeostatic process that kicks in here, especially for irruptive owls, is powerful. They often do not breed at all, because when it's time to court and bond, they are far from home territories. Also, females are often in poor condition to grow eggs during irruptions. The result is that predator and prey numbers quickly return to homeostasis.

multiple births : Another homeostatic process for population regulation. In some

species, such as deer, crowding results in single births. When the same species is

Homeostasis Lizard changing profile on rock :

lies flat on rock to gain heat. stands up to avoid receiving heat at midday.

Cactus Wren: avoids direct water loss but does not pant like other birds to evaporatively cool. behavioral regulation of body temperature and water loss:1. Nest orientation changes with season, and proper orientation is related to nest success.2. Fecal sac left in the nest during the hottest time in order to evaporatively cool the nest. (changing

by time)

Camel: great thermal inertia. ie: allow their body temperature to rise in order to avoid panting water loss (as in previous examples, this lessens the temperature gradient between the organism and the environment).

Nocturnal activity: Nighttime activities such as cats. Nocturnal activity is a primary means of avoiding drought stress for most mammals and many

birds and reptiles. Plants also employ this mechanism through CAM physiology.

Migration: (mostly birds)

Bactrial Intelligentce(Microbic Intelligent)

Trees

Hibernation

cells

Swarm intelligenceHomeostasis

Bacterial intelligence

Bacterial intelligence

Microbial intelligence : (popularly known as bacterial intelligence)

shown by microorganisms. adaptive behaviour shown by single cells. altruistic and/or cooperative behavior between like or

unlike cells mediated by chemical signalling that induces physiological or behavioral changes in cells and influences colony structures.

If there is lesser food available to the colony, the bacteria organise themselves in such a way so as to maximise nutrient availability

Bacterial Intelligence (Examples)

In shortage of a nutrient in a bacterium’s neighborhood can activate a system that makes the microbe attract the nutrient toward itself more strongly:

Generating and sending out `foraging agents (advetturous cells)1. the foragers can send out signals to detect targets.2. The others move towards it and engulf it for investigation.3. They signal their sendings back to the colony.

Producing extra copies of itself. Thus if shortage recurs later, the bacterium is better prepared.

(ie: investigators & reproduction &learning)

Some bacteria emit molecules that serve as stress signals to their neighbors (Communicating) The group can transform itself to create tough, walled structures that wait out tough times to reemerge late(preperation): form a fruiting body some cells die to form a stalk that supports the other cells, which become reproductive spores. (ie:suicide)

Bacterial Intelligence (Examples)

Under starvation conditions, it undergoes a magnificent developmental process in which roughly 100,000 individual cells aggregate to form a structure called the fruiting body

Bacterial Intelligence (Examples) high density of aerobic bacteria in fluid

stress is insufficient oxygen. The bacteria develop collective behaviour that

produces convection in the fluid. This `bioconvection’ allows each cell to be exposed periodically to regions of the fluid that are rich in oxygen. (ie:convection & feeding periodicly)

Bacterial Intelligence (Examples) In food deplition:

The colonial patterns shift from compact to tip splitting, `bushy’ fractal patterns.

even lower food levels: more organized structures of fine radial branches.

Under the microscope: at the outskirts of the colony appear active and perform

random-walk-like swimming further inside they are stationary (prespore state) even deeper inside they sporulate.

(figure in the next slide)

Figure. Patterns exhibited by the branching morphotype of the Paenibacillus dendritiformis bacteria: (a) tip-splitting growth at high peptone(food) levels; (b) `bushy’ branching at intermediate levels; (c) a closer look at the patterns of density variations within tip-splitting branches. The latter manifests the additional level of organization between the individual bacteria and the branches. (d) An even closer look, through an electron microscope, reveals the large variations between cells due to their `regulated freedom’.

Bacterial Intelligence (Examples) Cells must adapt ( in shortage of nutrition ) In general adaptation must be gradual since shortages are gradual.

Induction of flagellar synthesis (permits the cells to swim to new sources of nutrients). If they are not available and more drastic measures are necessary then : the cell turns first to competence (the ability of a cell to take up extracellular ("naked") DNA

from its environment ) and then to sporulation as a survival mechanism. (gradual response)

Slime mould : In times of food shortage :

they aggregate to form a mobile slug capable of transporting the assembled individuals to a new feeding area.

then form into a fruiting body that disperses their spores using the wind.

(ie: aggregation and locomotion)

Cells

Trees

Hibernation

Homeostasis

Swarm intelligenceBactrial intelligence

Cells

Cells

Rather than the brain controlling what happens, each cell is an ingenious entity in its own right.

for example an amoeba has enough intelligence to find food and adapt to its surroundings.

In cells homeostasis is maintained by precise balance of three key developmental processes:1. Cell proliferation (cell division)2. Cell differentiation (generation of specialized cells) Differentiation is the production of different proteins in different

types of cells3. Apoptosis (programmed cell death)

Cells In shortage of food supply:

1. Thousands of single amoeba aggregate. (form a multi-cellular organism). 2. It can move and find new food supply3. Part of cells differentiate to form spores. Spores are disseminated.4. Every spore gives live to new mexamoebae

(:aggregation and movement & reproduction)

Starving cells release cAMP Cells move against the gradient of cAMP

Differentiation is initiated by external signal cAMP initiates expression of new proteins These proteins are responsible for:

cell adhesioncell differentiation

Cells

A kind of amoebae eat bacteria and increase in number by fission.

In shortage of food: starving cells get some of themselves to some other patch of

soil where there are copious bacteria and a new colony can be formed.

The amoebae thus cooperate to form a fruiting body, a mass of spore cells held off the ground by a thin column of stalk cells.

like the game of "musical chairs.“ based on the cell cycle phase that each cell happens to be in at

the time of starvation. Cells which are in the early part of the cell cycle, and thus have the least amount of stored reserves, become part of the stalk.

Cells which are in the middle and late part of the cell cycle, and thus have greater stored reserves and a greater chance of surviving, become spores.

Swarm Intelligence

Trees

Hibernation

cells

HomeostasisBactrial intelligence

Swarm Intelligence

Swarm Intelligence Effects of colony food shortage on behavioral

development in honey bees

Cues in the Environment. applying the concept of Collective intelligence (CI)

to Ambient Intelligence (AmI) ). Introduction to persuasive Cues (perCue).

Swarm Intelligence Effects of colony food shortage on behavioral

development in honey bees.

There are 3 experiments: Experiment 1: effect of colony food shortage on

precocious forager development

Experiment 2: short-term regulation of foraging activity or long-term development of foragers?

Experiment 3: do bees assess colony food shortage by perceiving empty comb in the hive?

Swarm Intelligence . In experiment 1:

greater proportion & younger ages.

In experiment 2 :feeding colonies that we initially starved, and starving colonies that we initially fed: significant decrease in the number of new foragers in starved

colonies that were fed, detected 1 day after feeding. significant increase in the number of new foragers in fed

colonies that were starved, but only after a 2-day lag. long-term effect

In experiment 3: The behavior of fed individuals in starved colonies was

indistinguishable from that of bees in fed colonies not mediated by the most obvious possible worker-nest

interaction.

Swarm Intelligence Ambient Intelligence (AmI):

Ambient intelligence (AmI) originated from the developments of ubiquitous computing, natural interaction and intelligent systems. The vision of AmI describes the pervasion of the everyday world with digital technology which is able to adapt to the presence and actions of users. AmI environments anticipate the users’ needs and support them in fulfilling these needs.

applying the concept of CI to AmI as we have found it

works well in biological and social systems. Examples from nature demonstrate the power of CI

stimulated by implicit cues in the environment. using these examples to derive design principles for AmI

environments.

Swarm Intelligence Example 1: Waiting Lines of Bees

If the waiting line is long, the availability of food is sufficient.

A bee can take the risk of searching for new food sources in the near environment to the bee hive.

waiting line is short, shortage of food. the bee decides to play safe by exploiting a well-known rich food source which can also be in a larger distance to the bee hive.

Example 2: Ant Trails When ants which leave the nest simultaneously find a food

source each ant follows its own trail back to the nest.

Swarm Intelligence Applying CI principles in AmI.

Swarm Intelligence

Schematic illustration of collective intelligence applied in an ambient intelligence environment. Human and artificial agents exchange information explicitly as well as implicitly resulting in a collectively intelligent multi-agent system.

Swarm Intelligence perCues:

We propose a specific form of cues in the environment called “perCues” (persuasive cues).

perCues inherit properties from implicit environmental cues in nature...

Swarm Intelligence perCues (Ambient cues for persuasion):

Swarm Intelligence (Applying CI in AmI. Ex. Pollution Reduction) The white circles

indicate the individuals building a collectivel intelligent system through mutual awareness fostered by the cues on the displays (dark

green)

The image shows a person buying a bus ticket at a vending machine. Using the bus instead of a car decreases emissions of carbon dioxide and particulate matter. A user can buy a ticket also via mobile phone. In both cases the decrease of emissions is visualized with perCues on the respective device (either ticket vending machine or mobile phone). In this way a user sees the direct impact of his individual action. Additionally, the information is presented on public displays raising the awareness of the group.

Plant & Trees

Homeostasis

Hibernation

cells

Swarm intelligenceBactrial intelligence

Plant & Trees

Plant & Trees Examples:

Shortage of specific resources accelerated growth of the tissue (either as elongation, weight or branching)

abundance of all resources increased branching . resource is localized, often local branching.

Shortage of water : root growth and particular proliferation.

high CO2 levels : reduce stomatal frequencies the CO2 signals are sensed by mature leaves and the information conveyed to

developing leaves which cannot respond to high CO2. Communication of aphid attack between plants has recently been shown to involve

other volatiles When shaded:

shade-intolerant species show substantial elongation of the primary stem (at the expense of lateral stem growth),

increased leaf area disproportionate reduction in the growth of fine roots.

Plant & Trees (Examples) Light Foragers:

The stilt palm is constructed from a stem raised on prop roots. When competitive neighbours approach:

avoidance action is taken by moving the whole plant back into full sunlight. (walking)

It is done by growing new prop roots in the direction of movement while those behind

another example: ( tropical climbers, particularly Syngonium). On reaching the top of a tree, the growing point descends, progressively

changing its morphology and leaf structure, and eventually assuming a very thin filiform shape with only scale leaves on the soil.

Using skototropism (movement towards darkness), the filiform stem explores, locates and recognizes a new trunk and reverses the growth pattern. As it climbs, the internode becomes progressively thicker and leaves progressively redevelop to full size .

This behaviour is analogous to animals that climb trees to forage, intelligently descend when food is exhausted or competition severe, and then climb the next tree.

Plant & Trees (Examples) Individual roots can track humidity and mineral gradients:

changing their branching patterns (architecture) when resource-rich patches are found. (from herring bone structure

to a highly branched motif .

changing uptake rates so that no particular resource limits growth but all remain in approximate balance.

avoiding detrimental competition: take deliberate avoidance action to prevent contact when

approached by roots of other species

Hibernation

Trees

Homeostasis

cells

Swarm intelligenceBactrial intelligence

Hibernation

Hibernation Hibernation is a time when animals ‘sleep’

through cold weather. 

  Some animals only go into a torpor or temporary sleep time and can wake up quickly.

Hibernation the fall, hibernating animals eat more food than usual.

The animal will use up the body fat it stores and not lose any muscle.(saving & storing)

The body temperature drops very low so that it almost matches the temperature outside.

The animal’s heartbeat and breathing slow down, too. stored fat lasts longer because their bodies are slowed

down so much that they don’t need much energy. Some of these hibernators also store food in their caves

and burrows. Cold-blooded hibernators begin hibernation when the

cold weather causes their body temperatures to drop.

Fetus

Trees

Homeostasis

cells

Swarm intelligenceBactrial intelligence

Fetus

Fetus

nutrition deficiency: cells divide less frequently, fewer total cells in the fetus’s body smaller overall, but proportionately relatively normal

(symmetrical growth)

Stress: The brain is the organ most important for survival nutrients, and oxygen gets routed towards the head. A head that is slightly large asymmetrical growth

Review Joint responsibility Reproduction (fission, branching) Transformation (shape, place)

Migration Learning Communication between agents Preparation Altruism (death suicide) Periodic feeding Aggregation Gradual & Long term response Saving (hibernation) Searching & Investigation Percues & Ambient persuasion Expense of sth. Changing uptake rates Architecture & Patterns Avoiding detrimental Competition Symmetrical or Asymmetrical