The inherent value of complexity

While complexity and chaos can be unsettling to the mind looking for control, order, and predictive power, it is a fact of life. We are complex, and so are the ecosystems in which we inhabit. Human domestication of ecosystems must coincide with the humility that some things are unknowable and uncontrollable. Below is a small example about how ecological complexity can result in tangible benefits.

During the summer of 2010 I stayed on an organic coffee farm in Chiapas, Mexico, one of the first to be certified organic. It rests in the wet cloudy highlands of Chiapas. On a clear day you can see the flat, expansive valley below, and on a very clear day you can see the ocean just beyond. I stayed on a field station with some other gringos and Mexicans. We were involved in figuring out what natural forces are at work that keep the notorious coffee rust fungus and heavy coffee herbivory at bay. 

Walking through the farm is like walking through a verdant jungle. Over 80 species of ants, about as many spider species, giant stinging caterpillars, dozens of bird species, fungus and volunteer plants galore. The work being performed there has received fantastic reviews from other scientists - one reviewer said “this is what makes me proud to be an ecologist”. Since arriving at the farm 10 years ago, the research team has discovered a complex ecological dance centered around an aggressive arboreal (tree-dwelling) ant called Azteca instabilis. The dance between the ant and its giant network associated species of arthropods, fungi, and plants (and the emergent spatial arrangement of these species) appears to prevent significant outbreaks of coffee rust fungus that have plagued coffee growers elsewhere. Ants and associated bird species control rampant herbivory. No pesticides/fungicides needed.

Azteca instabilis

Ecological web that controls coffee rust fungus

Pictures from full article:

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1525/bio.2010.60.7.8

(message me if you can’t access the full article)

There were more “weeds” (reaching as high as 2 meters) than usual because of a change in management. The all-business son has taken over his more naturalist father, selling the cows (now the manure is trucked up from the valleys below) and began to cut away many shade trees that would otherwise have kept the fast-growing weeds at bay. Let’s hope the farm maintains its ecological complexity (and independence from chemicals) for years to come.