Understanding Ecosystem Complexity via Application of a Process-Based State Space rather than a Potential Surface

Table 2

List of the rules for modeling termite ecosystem functioning and development.

Rule	Comment
(1) Wk^+, Te^+ ⟶ Wd^−, ai^−	The workers and the fungi are consuming wood and air
(2) Fg^− ⟶ Te^−	The fungi need the fungal gardens in order to survive
(3) Wk^+, Sl^+⟶Wd^+, Te^+, Fg^+,   Ec^+, Md^+	The workers are foraging in the soil for wood and fungus; from the soil, the workers are building the fungal gardens, the egg chambers, and the mount
(4) Wd^− ⟶ Wk^−, Te^−	The workers and the fungus need to eat wood to survive
(5) Rp^+, Sl^+ ⟶ Ec^+	For the soil, the queen and the king can also build egg rooms
(6) Rp^+, Ec^+ ⟶ Wk^+	In the egg chambers, the queen and the king are producing eggs that are becoming workers
(7) Wk^+, Wd^+ ⟶ Sd^+, Rp^+	Eating wood, the larvae are metamorphosing into soldiers and/or nymphaea
(8) Md^+, At^+ ⟶ Ai^+	The air of the nest is being refreshed by passing through the mound and exchanging with the atmosphere
(9) Wk^− ⟶ Fg^−, Sd^−	The soldiers cannot survive without the workers to feed them, and the fungal gardens need maintenance by the workers
(10) Wk^−, Rp^− ⟶ Ec^−	The egg chambers need maintenance by the workers or the reproductives; otherwise they collapse
(11) Sd^+ ⟶ Ac^−	The soldiers are killing ant competitors intruding into the colony
(12) Ac^+, Sd^− ⟶ Wk^−, Rp^−	Without the soldiers, the ant competitors are invading the colony and killing the workers and the reproductives
(13) Ai^− ⟶ Rp^−, Wk^−, Te^−	The reproductives, the workers, and the fungus need to breathe the air of the nest to survive

The conditions of application, realizations, and detailed explanations are given for each rule. The rule arrows indicate the transformation (rewriting) of the network at the next step [30]. Discrete systems are used to exhaustively characterize the dynamics of an integrated ecosystem (Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 00: 1–13 [30]).