Jan

5

At the core of the tipping point theory is the phenomena called 'critical slowing down'. This means that systems which are getting close to their tipping points take a longer time to recover when they are thrown out of balance.

Here is one of the graphs for the experiment. There is some semblance to Rocky's mountain collapse prediction.

Tipping points, at which complex systems can shift abruptly from one state to another, are notoriously difficult to predict1. Theory proposes that early warning signals may be based on the phenomenon that recovery rates from small perturbations should tend to zero when approaching a tipping point2, 3; however, evidence that this happens in living systems is lacking. Here we test such ‘critical slowing down’ using a microcosm in which photo-inhibition drives a cyanobacterial population to a classical tipping point when a critical light level is exceeded. We show that over a large range of conditions, recovery from small perturbations becomes slower as the system comes closer to the critical point. In addition, autocorrelation in the subtle fluctuations of the system’s state rose towards the tipping point, supporting the idea that this metric can be used as an indirect indicator of slowing down4, 5. Although stochasticity prohibits prediction of the timing of critical transitions, our results suggest that indicators of slowing down may be used to rank complex systems on a broad scale from resilient to fragile.

source

Here is Dr. Scheffer's book on critical transitions. It's interesting to compare the graph of a living system approaching a tipping point vs. a straight chemical reaction such as an acid-base titration where there is not much of a "warning" and the tipping point is reached very rapidly.


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