ENVE 101 : Introduction to Environmental Engineering Chapter III

Chapter-III

ECOSYSTEM AND SYSTEM APPROACH TO PROBLEM SOLVING

3.1 Ecosystem

What is an ecosystem?

The complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit
(Merriam Websters)

An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the living organisms or biotic

component, in a particular area, and the nonliving, or abiotic component, with which the
organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight (Wikipedia).

Some of the most fascinating reactors imaginable are ecosystems (Vesilind and Morgan, 2004).

Ecosystems are communities of organisms that interact with one another and with their physical
environment, including sunlight, rainfall, and soil nutrients (Davis and Cornwell, 2011).

Ecosystems can be further defined as systems in to which matter flows ( Davis and Cornwell,
2011).

3.2 Key terminologies

Habitat – Place where a population of organisms live.

Population – Group of organisms of the same species living in the same place at the same time.

Community – a community is an assemblage of two or more populations of different species

occupying the same geographical area. The term community has a variety of uses. In its simplest
form it refers to groups of organisms in a specific place and/or time, for example, "the fish
community of Rara Lake".

Biomes – Complex communities of plants and animals in a region and a climate. These include
deserts, tundra, chaparrals or scrubs, and temperate hardwood forests.

Biosphere – It is the sum of all the regions of the earth that support ecosystems. The biosphere is
made up of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere (the water) and the lithosphere (the soil, rocks and
minerals that make up the solid portion of the earth).

Autotroph – Primary producers obtaining required carbon from inorganic sources such as carbon
dioxide (CO2).

Heterotroph – Organisms obtaining required carbon from organic compounds for making cell
materials.

Phototroph – Organisms that are able to use sunlight as an energy source. Phototrophic organisms
may be either hetertophic (certain sulfur-reducing bacteria) or authotrophic ( algae and
photosynthetic bacteria).
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Chemotroph – Organisms which obtain required energy from chemical reactions utilizing organic
or inorganic compounds. Chemotrophs could be either hetertophic ( protozoa, fungi, and most
bacteria) or autotrophic ( i.e., nitrifying bacteria).

Anabolism – The biosynthetic reactions by which new cell material is produced.

Catabolism – Metabolic reactions by which substrate is degraded to simpler compounds, yielding

energy and usually also building blocks for synthetic reactions.

3.3 Why does an engineer need knowledge of Biology?

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their
structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast
subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines. Among the most important topics
are five unifying principles that can be said to be the fundamental axioms of modern biology (
Wikipedia, 2012) .

1. Cells are the basic unit of life

2. New species and inherited traits are the product of evolution
3. Genes are the basic unit of heredity
4. An organism regulates its internal environment to maintain a stable and constant condition
5. Living organisms consume and transform energy.

Living organisms, particularly the small ones, interact in numerous ways with human activities.
On the large scale of the biosphere, which consists of all regions of the earth containing life,
microorganisms play a primary role in the capture of the energy from the sun. Their biological
activities also complete critical segments of the cycles of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and other
elements essential for life. Microbes are also responsible for many human, animal, and plant
diseases. One of the major application of the biology lies with the question that how can the
microbes be used for mankind’s welfare and progress. These versatile biological catalysts have
served mankind for millennia. Various types of fermentation processes leading to production of
ethanol, glycerol and other chemicals have been in practice since ancient time. In the 1940s
complementary developments in biochemistry, microbial genetics, and engineering ushered in the
era of antibiotics with tremendous relief to mankind’s suffering and mortality. This period marks
the birth of biochemical engineering, the engineering of processes using catalysts, feedstocks,
and/or sorbents of biological origin. Biotechnology began to change from empirical art to
predictive, optimized design.

A later generation of fermentation processes produced steroids for birth control and for treatment
of arthritis and inflammation. Methods for cultivation of plan and animal cells made possible
mass production of vaccines and other useful biological agents. Clearly, mankind’s successful
harnessing and direction of cellular activities has had many health, social, environmental, and
economic impacts on past and contemporary human civilization.

Our challenge here is to understand and analyse the process of biotechnology so that we can
design and operate them in a rational way. To reach this goal, however, a basic working
knowledge of cell growth and function is required. These factors and others peculiar to biological
systems usually dominate biochemical process engineering. Living microorganisms can be
viewed in an approximate conceptual sense as an expanding chemical reactor which takes in

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nutrients from environment, grows, reproduces, and releases products into its surroundings. In
instances such as sewage treatment, consumption of nutrients ( organic waste) is the engineering
objective. When microbes are grown for food sources or supplements, it is the mass of microbial
matter produced which is desired. For a sewage treatment process, this microbial matter produced
by nutrient consumption constitutes an undesirable solid waste and thus its amount should be
minimized. The products formed and released during cellular activity are of major concern in
many industrial and natural contexts. The relative rates of nutrient utilization, growth and release
of products depend strongly on the type of cells involved and other temperature, composition and
motion of their environment. Understanding these interactions requires a foundation built upon
biochemistry, biophysics and cell biology. Since study of these subjects is not traditionally
included in engineering education, a substantial portion should be dedicated to them.

Whenever possible, the study of qualitative aspects of biological processes should be extended to
quantitative mathematical representations. These mathematical models will often be extremely
oversimplified and idealized, since even a single microorganism is very complicated system.
Nevertheless, basic concepts in microbiology should serve as a guide in formulating models and
checking their validity, just as basic knowledge in fluid mechanics is useful when correlating the
friction factor with Reynolds number ( Bailey and Ollis, 1986).

A second aspects of the relevance of the study of biology lies with the pollution effects of the
anthropogenic activities. Large scale agricultural operations can result in the release of pesticides,
fertilizers, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the environment. Dam construction for power
generation or water supply can have detrimental effects on river ecosystem. Loss of habitats
leading to global extinction of species, introduction of nonnative species in the ecosystem and
establishment of built-in areas in the cost of green forests and other ecosystems are issues where
engineering is directly or indirectly linked with biology in general or ecosystem in specific.

As illustrated by the discharge of pollutants into waterways or other environments, engineering

designs often have major impacts on ecosystem. However, with some forethought, engineers can
use techniques to minimize negative impacts. Similarly, it is also desirable to know the direct and
indirect impacts on ecological resources and surrounding ecosystems while designing a product.
Comparing the functional units of similar products and the extent of environmental impacts
created by the production and use of the products, we can obtain information to improve
processes, support policy and provide a sound basis for informed decisions. This would also help
the customers to make their choices.

The design of new structures or products or services and the remodeling of existing structures or
products or services, offer engineers many opportunities to incorporate energy efficient, water
efficient and environmentally friendly materials and devices into their designs. Of course, these
types of designs mean that engineers have work in teams, often with non-engineers, such as
biologists and landscape architects.

Thus the study related to ecosystems i.e. the domain of plants, animals and their physical
environment and the flow of energy and materials in the ecosystem is serves as a basics in
understanding the advance concepts in environmental engineering and other cross-cutting
disciplines.

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3.4 Water cycle

The water cycle ( also termed Hydrologic or Hydrological cycle) is a conceptual model that
describes the storage and movement of water between the biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and
the hydrosphere (see Fig. 3.1). Water on our planet can be stored in any one of the following
major reservoirs: atmosphere, oceans, lakes, rivers, soils, glaciers, snowfields, and groundwater.
Water moves from one reservoir to another by way of processes like evaporation, condensation,
precipitation, deposition, runoff, infiltration, sublimation, transpiration, melting, and groundwater
flow. The oceans supply most of the evaporated water found in the atmosphere. Of this
evaporated water, only 91% of it is returned to the ocean basins by way of precipitation. The
remaining 9% is transported to areas over landmasses where climatological factors induce the
formation of precipitation. The resulting imbalance between rates of evaporation and precipitation
over land and ocean is corrected by runoff and groundwater flow to the oceans.

( Considering a value of 100 for the rate of precipitation on land, the water balance would yield the following
figures: Moisture over land – 39, precipitation over sea-385, evaporation from ocean - 424, surface flow to ocean –
38, evaporation from land – 61; Refer Kieley, 2007 for details)

Fig. 3.1 Hydrological cycle

Traditionally, quantities of water transferred within the global hydrologic cycle are described in
terms of cubic kilometers (km3) by virtue of the immense quantities held in respective reservoirs.
Each km3 of water contains 1.0E12 liters and weighs 1.0E15 grams. Often, changes in the water
cycle are discussed in terms of depth, for example centimeters per year (cm/yr) or millimeters per
hour (mm/hr). On an annual basis, approximately 100 cm of water are evaporated from the
surface area of oceans. Oceans, which also happen to be the dominant pool in the global water
cycle, contain approximately 1,350,000 km 3 of water. Of this, approximately 425,000 km3 are
evaporated to the atmosphere each year, 385,000 km3 is returned directly to the oceans via

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precipitation, and 40,000 km3 is delivered to land by rainfall (net transport to land). At any given
time, the atmosphere contains about 13,000 km3 water, or approximately 0.3 cm of rainfall. It is
the large quantities of annual water movement through the atmosphere that results in 111,000 km3
being precipitated upon land and vegetation and 71,000 km3, which is either evaporated or
transpired (evapotranspiration). Polar and glacial ice reservoirs account for approximately
33,000,000 km3 water, water held in soils is equal to approximately 122,000 km3, and
groundwater basins hold approximately 15,300,000 km3.

3.5 Carbon cycle

The carbon cycle ( Fig. 3.2) is one of the major biogeochemical cycles describing the flow of
essential elements from the environent to living organisms and back to the environment again.
This process is required for the building of all organic compounds and involves the participation
of many of the earth's key forces. The carbon cycle has affected the earth throughout its history; it
has contributed to major climatic changes, and it has helped facilitate the evolution of life.

Fig. 3.2 Generalized Carbon cycle

The major driving force underlying the biogeochemical cycle is photosynthesis, which taps solar
energy to reduce CO2, bicarbonate, and carbonate, the oxidized forms of carbon, while
simultaneously liberating molecular oxygen from water. The amount of carbon fixed per year on
land and in the oceans is roughly 1.6 1010 and 1.2 1010 tons, respectively. While green plants
are the major contributors to the photosynthetic activity on land, photosynthesis occurring in the
oceans is almost entirely due to unicellular algae called phytoplankton. Although photosynthesis
is the dominant means of CO2 reduction, chemoautotrophs also reduce CO2. Mineralisation of
organic carbon to CO2 is primarily the consequences of bacterial and fungal metabolic activities.

Carbon is removed or sequestered from the life cycle by several mechanisms. Much of the CO2
released into the atmosphere enters the oceans as biocarbonate ions. There, it can compbine with
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calcium to form calcium carbonate which appears in coral shells and limestone. In this form of
carbon is relatively inaccessible, but much of it is ultimately made available by weathering or by
attack of acids. Microorganisms participate in the latter process through synthesis of carbonic,
sulfuric, nitric, and other acids.

Carbon is sequestered in organic form. Humus, an organic residue derived from microbial-
resisteant plant components, is an important constitutent of rich soil. When conditions favor large
accumulations of humus, deposits of peat are created which, on a geological time scale, can be
transformed into coal. Oil and natural gas are other common forms of sequestered organic carbon.
Carbon residing in these forms seems destined for eventual return to the biosphere due to man’s
apparently relentless demands ( Baily and Ollis, 1986).

3.6 Nitrogen cycle

The nitrogen cycle represents one of the most important nutrient cycles found in ecosystems.
(Figure 3.3). Nitrogen is a required nutrient for all living organisms to produce a number of
complex organic molecules like amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, and nucleic acids,
including DNA and RNA. The ultimate store of nitrogen is in the atmosphere, where it exists as
nitrogen gas (N2). This store is about one million times larger than the total nitrogen contained in
living organisms. Other major stores of nitrogen include organic matter in soil and the oceans.
Despite its abundance in the atmosphere, nitrogen is often the most limiting nutrient for plant
growth. This problem occurs because N2 gas is not biochemically usable by plants. Plants can
only take up nitrogen in the form of ammonium ion (NH4+), nitrate ion (NO3-), or, less common,
as amino acids. Animals receive the nitrogen they need for metabolism, growth, and reproduction
by the consumption of living or dead organic matter containing molecules composed partially of
nitrogen.

In most ecosystems nitrogen is primarily stored in living and dead organic matter. This organic
nitrogen is converted into inorganic forms when it re-enters the biogeochemical cycle via
decomposition. Decomposers chemically modify the nitrogen found in organic matter to
ammonium ion (NH4+). This process is known as mineralization and it is carried out by a variety
of bacteria and fungi.

Nitrogen in the form of ammonium can be absorbed onto the surfaces of clay particles in the soil.
The ammonium ion has a positive molecular charge and is normally held by negatively charged
soil colloids. This process is sometimes called micelle fixation. Ammonium is released from the
colloids by way of cation exchange. When released, most of the ammonium is often chemically
altered by a specific type of autotrophic bacteria (bacteria that belong to the genus Nitrosomonas)
into nitrite (NO2-). Further modification by another type of bacteria (belonging to the genus
Nitrobacter) converts the nitrite to nitrate (NO3-). Both of these processes involve chemical
oxidation and are known collectively as nitrification. Unlike ammonium, nitrate is negatively
charged and, therefore, does not absorb onto negatively charged clay surface. Consequently,
ntriate is very mobile in soil and it is easily by leaching. Some of this leached nitrate flows
through the hydrologic system until it reaches the oceans where it can be returned to the
atmosphere by denitrification. Denitrification is also common in anaerobic soils and is carried out
by heterotrophic bacteria. The process of denitrification involves the metabolic reduction of
nitrate (NO3-) into nitrogen (N2) or nitrous oxide (N2O) gas. Both of these gases then diffuse into
the atmosphere, thus removing nitrogen from the soil, accounting for the name, denitrification.

Almost all of the nitrogen found in any ecosystem originally came from the atmosphere.
Significant amounts enter the soil in rainfall or through the effects of lightning. The majority,

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however, is biochemically fixed in ecosystems by specialized micro-organisms, all of which are

bacteria of various types, including a varity of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria,
actinomycetes, and cyanobacteria. Members of the bean family (legumes) and some other kinds of
plants form mutualistic symbiotic relationships with certain types of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. In
exchange for some nitrogen, the bacteria receive from the plants carbohydrates and special
structures (nodules) in the roots where they can exist in a protected environment. Scientists
estimate that biological fixation globally adds approximately 140 million metric tons of nitrogen
to ecosystems every year.

Fig 3.3 Generalized Nitrogen Cycle in the environment

Humans now fix approximately as much nitrogen industrially as does natural nitrogen fixation,
thus dramatically altering the nitrogen cycle. Some of the major processes involved in this
alteration include:

 The application of nitrogen fertilizers to crops has caused increased rates of denitrification and
leaching of nitrate into groundwater. The additional nitrogen entering the groundwater system
eventually flows into streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries. In these systems, the added nitrogen
can lead to eutrophication and associated hypoxia.

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 Increased deposition of nitrogen from atmospheric sources because of fossil fuel combustion
and forest burning. Both of these processes release a variety of solid forms of nitrogen through
combustion and contribute to acid rain.
 Livestock ranching. Livestock release a large amounts of ammonia into the environment from
their wastes. This nitrogen enters the soil system and then the hydrologic system through
leaching, groundwater flow, and runoff.
 Sewage waste and septic tank leaching.
( TEE, 2012)

3.7 Phophorus cycle

The phosphorus cycle is the biogeochemical cycle which characterizes the transport and chemical
transformation of phosphorus through the geosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. Unlike many
other biogeochemical cycles, the atmosphere does not play a significant role in the movement of
phosphorus, since phosphorus and phosphorus-based compounds are typically solids at the normal
ranges of temperature and pressure found on Earth. Therefore most of the phosphorus remains
within rock, sediments, sand, and the ocean floor, with a fraction in living biomass. Phosphorus
moves among trophic levels in an ecosystem by plant growth, herbivory and carnivory.

Phosphorus in the Earth's crust generally occurs in its maximally oxidized state, such as inorganic
phosphate rocks. Phosphates are liberated from rocks in the weathering process of the natural
environment. The small phosphorus losses in a terrestrial system caused by leaching through the
action of rain are countered by gains from weathering rocks. In soil, phosphate is absorbed on
clay surfaces and organic matter particles and becomes incorporated.
Role in biota

Plant species dissolve ionized forms of phosphate and take the mineral into their system.
Herbivores obtain phosphorus by consuming plant biomass, and carnivores by consuming
herbivores. Herbivores and carnivores excrete phosphorus as a waste product in urine and feces.
Phosphorus is then released back into the soil when plants or animal matter decomposes and the
cycle repeats. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants and animals in the form of ions,
including phosphate-->phosphate, PO43- and hydrogen phosphate, HPO42-.

Phosphates are effective fertilizers, but they also cause pollution problems in lakes streams.
Because phosphorus is often the nutrient in limited supply, even a small increase in availability
can cause a significant effect. Over-enrichment of phosphate can lead to algae blooms. This
excess of algae causes increased consumption by bacteria, which then leads to even higher
bacterial concentrations. In the process the bacteria use up much of the dissolved oxygen in the
water during cellular respiration and thereby cause the death of fish due to oxygen deprivation.
The primary biological importance of phosphates is as a component of nucleotides, which serve as
energy storage within cells (Adenosine triphosphate [ATP]) or, when linked together, form the
nucleic acids deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). Phosphorus, primarily in
the form of hydroxyapatite, Ca5(PO4)3OH, is a key structural component of animals.
Approximately 80% of the phosphorus in vertebrate animals is in their bones and teeth. This
element is also an important constituent of phospholipids, which are in all biological membranes.
Anthropogenic influence

Human influences in the phosphorus cycle arise chiefly from the introduction of synthetic
fertilizers. Use of fertilizers mainly has significantly altered both the phosphorus and nitrogen
cycles. Vegetation may not be able to utilize all of the phosphate fertilizer applied; as a

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consequence, much of the phosphate applied as fertilizer is lost from the land through water
surface runoff. The dissolved phosphate in surface runoff is eventually precipitated as sediment at
the bottom of the water body. In certain lakes and ponds, this phosphate may be redissolved and
recycled, often as an excessive nutrient. Animal wastes or manure are also be applied to land as
fertilizer, particularly in developing countries.

If misapplied on frozen ground during the winter, much of the fertilizer may be lost when ice
melts and forms runoff. In certain areas very large or intense feed lots of animals, may result in
excessive surface runoff of phosphate and nitrate into streams. Other human sources of phosphate
are in the out flows from municipal sewage treatment plants. Without an expensive tertiary
treatment, the phosphate in sewage is not removed during various treatment operations. Again an
extra amount of phosphate enters the water ( TEE, 2012).

Fig. 3.4 Generalised Phosphorus Cycle in the environment

3.8 Environmental System

A system may be considered as interconnected set of components which 'behaves as a whole in

response to stimuli to any part'.

In all natural or environmental systems there exists a hierarchy of levels. Each system is, in fact, a
component of a super-system and itself comprised of a collection of subsystems.
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For example :
- biochemical or physical systems ( a cell, a pond, a unit of a treatment plant)
- plant or animal systems ( aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems)
- urban or rural community
- national or regional ( a country could be an example)

Complex system

A complex system is a system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit one or
more properties (behavior among the possible properties) not obvious from the properties of the
individual parts.

A system’s complexity may be of one of two forms: disorganized complexity and organized
complexity. In essence, disorganized complexity is a matter of a very large number of parts, and
organized complexity is a matter of the subject system (quite possibly with only a limited number
of parts) exhibiting emergent properties.

Examples of complex systems for which complexity models have been developed include ant
colonies, human economies and social structures, climate, nervous systems, cells and living
things, including human beings, as well as modern energy or telecommunication infrastructures.
Indeed, many systems of interest to humans are complex systems. Complex systems are studied
by many areas of natural science, mathematics, and social science. Fields that specialize in the
interdisciplinary study of complex systems include systems theory, complexity theory, systems
ecology, and cybernetics.

A complex system is a network of heterogeneous components that interact nonlinearly, to give

rise to emergent behavior. The term complex systems has multiple meanings depending on its
scope:

 A specific kind of systems which are complex

 A field of science studying these systems;
 A paradigm that complex systems have to be studied with non-linear dynamics;

Various informal descriptions of complex systems have been put forward, and these may give
some insight into their properties. A special edition of Science about complex systems [4]
highlighted several of these:

 A complex system is a highly structured system, which shows structure with variations
 A complex system is one whose evolution is very sensitive to initial conditions or to small
perturbations, one in which the number of independent interacting components is large, or one
in which there are multiple pathways by which the system can evolve
 A complex system is one that by design or function or both is difficult to understand and
verify
 A complex system is one in which there are multiple interactions between many different
components
 Complex systems are systems in process that constantly evolve and unfold over time

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System dynamics

System dynamics is an approach to understanding the behaviour of complex systems over time. It
deals with internal feedback loops and time delays that affect the behaviour of the entire system.
What makes using system dynamics different from other approaches to studying complex systems
is the use of feedback loops and stocks and flows. These elements help describe how even
seemingly simple systems display baffling nonlinearity (Wikipedia, 2012).

System dynamics is an aspect of systems theory as a method for understanding the dynamic
behavior of complex systems. The basis of the method is the recognition that the structure of any
system — the many circular, interlocking, sometimes time-delayed relationships among its
components — is often just as important in determining its behavior as the individual components
themselves. Examples are chaos theory and social dynamics. It is also claimed that because there
are often properties-of-the-whole which cannot be found among the properties-of-the-elements, in
some cases the behavior of the whole cannot be explained in terms of the behavior of the parts (
Wikipedia, 2012).

Some reflections related to the system approach (Senge, 2006):

( i) Today’s problems come from yesterday’s “solutions”

Solutions that merely shift problems from one part of a system to another often go undetected
because, those who “solved” the first problem are different from those who inherit the new
problem.

(ii) The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back

Pushing harder, whether through an increasingly aggressive intervention or through increasingly

stressful withholding of natural instincts, is exhausting.

(iii) Behavior grows better before it grows worse

A typical solution feels wonderful, when it first cures the symptoms. Now there’s improvement;
or maybe even the problem has gone away. It may be two, three, or four years before the problem
returns, or some new, worse problem arrives.

(iv) The easy way out usually leads back in

We are comfortable in applying familiar solutions to problems, sticking to what we know best.
Pushing harder and harder on familiar solutions, while fundamental problems persists or worsen,
is a reliable indicator of non-systemic thinking.

(v) The cure can be worse than the disease

Sometimes the easy or familiar solution is not only ineffective; sometime it is addictive and
dangerous. We shift the burden of doing simple math from our knowledge of arithmetic to a
dependency on pocket calculators.

(vi) Faster is slower

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All natural systems, from ecosystems to animals to organizations, have intrinsically optimal rates
of growth. The optimal rate is far less than fastest possible growth. The systems principles can
even become excuses for inaction – for doing nothing rather than possibly taking actions that
might backfire, or even make matters worse.

(vii) Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space.

There is a fundamental mismatch between the nature of reality in complex systems and our
predominant ways of thinking about that reality. The first step in correcting that mismatch is to let
go of the notion that cause and effect are close in time and space.

(viii) Small changes can produce big results- but the areas of highest leverage are often the least
obvious

Learning to see underlying structure rather than the events.

(ix) You can have your cake and eat it too – but not at once

Thinking in terms of processes of change rather than the snapshots.

(x) Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants

Living systems have integrity. Their character depends upon the whole. The same is true for
organizations.

(x) There is no blame

Systems thinking shows that there is no separate “other”, that you and the someone else are part
of a single system. The cure lies in your relationship with your “enemy” .

Adaptive systems

In a complex system, great many independent agents are interacting with each other in a great
many ways. Think of quadrillions of chemically reacting proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids that
make up a living cell, or the billions of interconnected neurons that make up the brain, or the
millions of mutually interdependent individuals who make up a human society.

In every case, moreover, the very richness of these interactions allows the system as a whole to
undergo spontaneous self-organisation. Thus people trying to satisfy their material needs
unconsciously7 organise themselves into an economy through myriad individual acts of buying
and selling; it happens without anyone being in charge or consciously planning it. The genes in a
developing embryo organize themselves in one way to make a liver cells and in another way to
make a muscle cell. Flying birds adapt to the actions of their neighbor, unconsciously organizing
themselves into a flock. Organisms constantly adapt to each other through evolution, thereby
organizing themselves into an exquisitely tuned ecosystem. Atoms search for a minimum energy
state by forming chemical bonds with each other, thereby organizing themselves into structures
known as molecules. In every case, groups of agents seeking mutual accommodation and self-
consistency somehow manage to transcend themselves, acquiring collective properties such as
life, though, and purpose that they might never have possessed individually.

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Furthermore, these complex, self-organising systems are adaptive, in that they don’t just passively
respond to events the way a rock might roll around in an earthquake. They actively try to turn
whatever happens to their advantage. Thus, the human brain constantly organizes and reorganizes
its billions of neural connections so as to learn form experience. Species evolve fro better survival
in a changing environment and so do corporations and industries. And marketplace responds to
changing tastes and lifestyles, immigration, technological developments, shifts in the price of raw
materials and host of other factors.

Finally, every one of these complex, self-organising, adaptive systems possesses a kind of
dynamism that makes them qualitatively different from static objects such a computer chips or
snowflakes, which are merely complicated. Complex systems are more spontaneous, more
disorderly, more alive than that. At the same time, however, their peculiar dynamism is also a far
cry from the weirdly unpredictable gyrations known as chaos. All these complex systems have
somehow acquired ability to bring order and chaos into a special kind of balance. This balance
point-often called the edge of chaos – is were the components of a system never quite lock into
place, and yet never quite dissolve into turbulence, either. The edge of chaos is where life has
enough stability to sustain itself and enough creativity to deserve the name of life. The edge of
chaos is the constantly shifting battle zone between stagnation and anarchy, the one place where a
complex system can be spontaneous, adaptive, and alive (Waldrop, 1992).

System boundaries

There are no pre-determined boundaries to systems. The boundaries of a system are defined by
the observer for a particular purpose. In some instances, it may be appropriate to define physical,
or spatial boundaries. A closed system is one in which the system boundaries are well defined and
'impermeable' that is, there is no transfer of matter energy or information outside the system as
defined. In order to make analysis easier and apply the law of conservation of matter, it is
common to assume that systems are closed. Considering water supply system in a community as
an example we find that the leaks and wastewater generated are considered as 'losses'. However,
these losses become the sources of water if we consider the groundwater or receiving water bodies
together. Many environmental or social systems are not closed. They are open systems, in that
their boundaries are ambiguous, expanding or permeable.

References

Bailey, J. E. and Ollis, D. F. ( 1986) Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals, McGraw-Hill

International, New York

The Encyclopedia of Earth (TET) ( 2012) http://www.eoearth.org// ( Downloaded on March 02,

2012)

Senge, P. M. (2006) The Fifth Discipline : The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation;
Random House, London

Waldrop, M. M. (1992) Complexity : The Emerging Sciece at the Edge of Order and Chaos,
Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, New York

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