Self-regulation in biology is one of the most important properties of a living system, which consists in automatically setting and maintaining a certain level of parameters necessary for normal functioning. The essence of the process is that no external influences become controlling. Factors guiding change are formed within a self-regulating system and contribute to the creation of dynamic equilibrium. The processes that arise can be cyclical in nature, fading and resuming as certain conditions develop or disappear.
Self-regulation: the meaning of a biological term
Any living system, from a cell to a biogeocenosis, is constantly exposed to various external factors. Temperature conditions, humidity change, food runs out, or interspecific competition intensifies—there are a lot of examples. Moreover, the viability of any system depends on its ability to maintain a constant internal environment (homeostasis). It is to achieve such a goal that self-regulation exists. The definition of the concept implies that changes in the external environment are not direct factors of impact. They are converted into signals that cause one or another imbalance and lead to the launch of self-regulation mechanisms designed to return the system to a stable state. At each level, such interaction of factors looks different, so to understand what self-regulation is, let’s look at them in more detail.
What is self-regulation and its types
Therapy specialist Andrea Bell defines self-regulation as the ability to control and restrain oneself from impulsive actions and emotions. The ability to self-regulate helps to resist and thereby control one’s place in society, which indicates the flexibility of a person’s emotional and behavioral state.
In psychology, there are two types of self-regulation:
- emotional - this is the ability to manage your state and emotions. In a moment of depression, lift your mood and the ability to calm down during a period of upset feelings,
— behavioral is the ability to act for the benefit of one’s long-term interests. More precisely, it is the ability to react to various situations, contrary to your feelings.
This is easy to understand using the example of a queue at the checkout. When you are tired, and the cashier is slow and clumsy, and even makes mistakes that lead to proceedings. To his apology and question whether he delayed you too much, you would rather answer, no, with a smile on your face, rather than express everything that you think about him.
For example, correctly developed self-regulation can also include:
- the child stops hysterics when asked to buy him a new toy in return,
- the decision of people to take a break in a sharp discussion in order to prevent a quarrel and not lead the situation to insults,
- choosing low-calorie foods if you want to lose weight.
Such control of emotions helps to achieve certain goals, solve many important problems, and even become a leader in your environment.
It is important to understand that self-regulation includes and makes the following human abilities stronger:
- using self-control to behave with dignity in society and not succumb to weaknesses: alcohol, smoking, using swear words,
- the ability to manage your energy in order to properly distribute the load and achieve desired goals,
- ability to maintain calm and restraint in unpleasant and difficult situations,
- the ability to switch and cope with workload and stress in difficult situations.
It is stress and stressful situations that are decisive factors in self-regulation and the ability to manifest it consciously and unconsciously.
Self-regulation methods
The processes occurring at each of these levels are externally different in scale, the energy sources used and their results, but are similar in essence. They are based on the same methods of self-regulation of systems. First of all, it is a feedback mechanism. It is possible in two versions: positive and negative. Let us recall that direct communication involves the transfer of information from one element of the system to another, the reverse one flows in the opposite direction, from the second to the first. In this case, both of them change the state of the receiving component.
Positive feedback leads to the fact that the processes that the first element reported to the second are reinforced and continue to be implemented. A similar process underlies all growth and development. The second element constantly signals the first about the need to continue the same processes. This disrupts the stability of the system.
Cybernetic self-regulation of health or how the human body’s defenses work
When I wrote my dissertation many, many years ago, I made the greatest super-duper discovery of the century! People, for the most part, strive to find a source of health outside themselves (i.e., dependence on external things) - vitamins or herbs, nature or medical equipment, more energetic or cheerful interlocutors, purified or mineral water, sweeteners or honey, etc. This is certainly a good thing, but these are not the droids you are looking for! It’s sad for us, rehabilitation specialists, that almost no one cultivates health within themselves. We have especially few tools to protect ourselves from excessive emotional stress, depression and all sorts of viruses with drafts. But for a long time, approximately 100-200 centuries, there have been ways to increase the internal resources of the autonomic and central nervous system to an individual maximum. Upgrade the body, giving the opportunity to perform, that is, psychophysical techniques of self-regulation. They do not promise immortality or clairvoyance, but you can avoid getting sick almost completely (as much as possible) and recover faster from all sorts of disorders. Unless you yourself want to have them again.
UPD: this article is a review, propaganda of self-regulation and scientific and theoretical, not about specific techniques, I did not promise them. If you want them, I can write them in the next article. Or you can contact my fellow doctors, by the way, they are looking for developers and programmers to implement the mobile application “Autotraining in psychosomatics”, here is a Program for teaching relaxation for chronic migraine - PrEVM No. 2019614503
UPD2: at the request of readers, I will later write a review of the best mobile applications that teach the practice of self-regulation, almost replacing a psychotherapist in this.
The most important problem of modern medicine, psychology and even any “non-traditionalism” is reductionism, i.e. one-sided, not comprehensive, insufficiently broad approach to treatment, correction and prevention. Either exclusively physical chemistry, or only increased anxiety or acupuncture points are “panaceally” treated, but in this way each of them can only give a maximum of 33.3% of the total health of the soul and body. And 99-100% help with medicine, nutrition, thinking, communication, movement, and feeling together and at once. This is our (and other integrative specialists') credo. Always.
As you read this article, you will, of course, have doubts that it has little to do with IT, but I ask you to take your time until you have spent some time thinking about or practically applying the described technologies, patents and theories of physiology, medicine and psychology for yourself or work. Let's start in order, as is customary for us, associate professors and students of Academician Anokhin.
Self-regulation is the conscious or unconscious ability of a person and all living beings to manage their neurophysiological state and psychosomatic health, using internal mechanisms, methods of traditional and alternative medicine and psychology due to their knowledge, skills, abilities and innate reflexes. To know means to foresee, and to foresee means to be able or to dominate. However, “it is not the one who lived longer who knows more, but the one who walked further,” so they only “learn from mistakes,” forming new conditioned reflexes (according to Pavlov I.P. and Anokhin P.K.).
The ability of each of us to self-regulate has been confirmed by domestic and foreign scientists who have developed four main theories:
- Homeostasis and homeoresis are the maintenance by the human body itself of the constancy and adaptability of its internal environment (blood, heart, intestines, kidneys, biceps, and so on).
- Stress (adaptation syndrome) is an innate reaction of the individual to external influences, aimed at maintaining social, mental and physical homeostasis.
- Reflexes and functional systems are cybernetic mechanisms of mutual assistance between organs and physiological systems (nervous, endocrine, digestive and others).
- Sanogenesis and immunity are protective reactions of the human and animal body that carry out self-regulation at the cellular and molecular level.
It would seem that it turns out that you don’t need to do anything at all to be healthy, everything happens on its own, you sleep, walk around, eat and you’re fine. But why is it that in reality things are not so rosy with our health? This is due to the fact that man is a social being, and almost nothing allows anything to happen directly, without the participation of consciousness; he wants to understand, control and intervene in the natural order.
However, even if it interferes with your body, it is possible to improve your well-being if you engage in non-medicinal psychophysical self-regulation (health-saving technologies), quickly and effectively, helping your cells comprehensively.
Methods for comprehensively improving the health of mind and body have been around for many centuries. Hippocrates also said that “not only the doctor himself must use everything that is necessary, but also the patient, everyone around him, and all external circumstances must contribute to the doctor in his activities.” There is no point in arguing with the father of Western medicine. In addition, even more ancient Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic medicine based all their diagnostics and treatment on the same holistic (integral and cybernetic) principle. Physical therapy, autogenic training, color therapy, aromatherapy, sound and reflexology, and even taste therapy - all this has long served to heal a person and continues to do so to this day. But, unfortunately, this ancient wealth is not always used by all modern doctors: no one can grasp the immensity.
However, in our time - a time of scientific and technological progress, global chemicalization and electrification, the need for treatment specifically by the human ecological environment as a whole has become much greater than in previous centuries. You can even patent such an “original” method as “ecological therapy” (although there is “nature therapy”). In another way, this technique can be called “multifactorial medicine.” This concept also corresponds to the modern terms “integrative” and “social” medicine. The World Health Organization's biopsychosocial concept of health is also based on a holistic concept of human health.
Another most comprehensive (integrative) approach to psychophysical self-regulation of health can be called such terms as “healthy lifestyle”, “hygiene”, “sanitation”, “human ecology”, Fitwel technologies, wellness and acmeology. It is important that all these sciences emphasize “environmental healing,” that is, the natural and minimally artificial factors surrounding us in everyday life, each of which can be the cause, soil, and method of treatment for emotional or physical disorders.
In order for the cybernetic system of conscious self-regulation to take place, you must first try at least 100 (and not 3-5) different methods, and then choose 2-3 of the most pleasant methods that you can use daily. Basically, these are psychotherapeutic and “naturotherapeutic” techniques. Although you can, of course, use medicinal (any chemistry), physiotherapeutic (artificial fields) and social (anti-toxic networking) approaches to self-regulation.
The most amazing thing is that, even if we are against all this demonic behavior (in religions they don’t really like meditation, yoga and qigong, for example), then our whole life is still endless self-regulation, unconsciously. And moreover, psychological, medical, mental and physical at the same time. But there are also conscious goals of self-regulation, and there is even our official enemy - harmful excessive stress. The so-called pathological emotional stress manifests itself in different ways - it can be constant irritability, unpleasant agitation, chronic fatigue, weakness, negative emotions (anger, resentment, envy), self-deprecation, conflict, aggressiveness, a “bouquet” of chronic diseases (hypertension, ulcers). stomach, diabetes), psychosomatic disorders (headache, constipation, palpitations), feelings of hopelessness, pessimism, inability to control oneself, poor relationships with work colleagues, guilt due to incontinence, fear of the future; this can be listed ad infinitum.
On the other hand, stress is life. Only a living person has the above problems. Only living beings are capable of reacting. Once upon a time, they even wanted to rename the entire science of psychology “reactology.” And that’s why we called the article, for example, not “getting rid of” or “treatment, prevention” of stress or other disorders or diseases, but “self-regulation of health,” that is, cybernetic (according to Anokhin) improvement of one’s psychosomatic well-being. After all, sometimes we are sorely lacking in stressful stimuli and we begin to frantically search for new and/or thrilling sensations. It can be said, therefore, that negative excessive emotional stress is the most common primary cause of disease; at the same time, being positive and dosed, emotional stress turns into a powerful means of treatment.
When the famous scientist Hans Selye proposed the concept of “stress” in 1932, he most likely assumed that this term would become common not only among physiologists and physicians, but also among philosophers. However, he did not think that when this word became international, it would acquire an exclusively negative connotation in society - in colloquial speech and popular literature, the term “stress” would designate only pathological, “bad” stress, which Selye proposed to call by another term, “distress.” .
A state of distress is a pre-neurotic state when signs of neurosis, depression, psychosomatic disorder or even chronic somatic illness are about to appear. In these cases, the help of a qualified specialist is required - a psychotherapist or psychologist. But when distress appears only periodically, then methods of psychophysical self-help, built on universal feedback, including our dearest and most beloved - biological feedback, come in handy.
Thank God that it has long been accepted throughout the world, according to the WHO definition, that “health” is “not only the absence of diseases and physical disabilities, but also a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.” Therefore, one of the main ideas of this article is precisely that it is necessary to treat or correct not one or another disease or symptom, as is often the case, but “the whole person, like a cybernetic system,” where everything is connected, according to Academician Anokhin and others like them . This idea is completely devoid of historical originality; it will soon be two or three thousand years old, at least. However, for the same amount of time it is not observed by thousands and millions of people and even doctors and psychologists.
After all, no one doubts the fact that each of us has a soul (mental principle), body (biological part) and spirit (social component). Ethics, calmness and posture, for example, are equally necessary for health. And therefore, only a kind and wise chiropractor can really cure a person by adding his own “energy” to his massage - a personal example of a lifestyle for the patient. And another chiropractor is able to reduce lower back pain for just a month or two.
Unfortunately, in Russia and almost all over the world, the training of no doctor includes methods of socio-, psycho-, and biological therapy at the same time; it is not accepted that way. There are, however, separate social workers, psychologists and doctors - all sorts of therapists - excellent specialists, but how rarely do they communicate. Fortunately, things are now changing slightly in two ways. Centers for psychological, medical, and social assistance have been created and are being developed, where specialists from all three areas work together. In addition, the training of today's psychotherapists, psychologists, teachers and social workers began to include introducing them all to each other and joint classes to improve interaction, since there is a need for an integrated approach to a person.
The result of using complex self-regulation techniques is improved health, adjusted at will and in collaboration with specialists and friends. That is, we, specialists in the most comprehensive digitalization of biomedicine and psychology, are interested in increasing the positive, and not fighting the negative, in good health, not only physical, but also emotional and social. We wish you all this from the bottom of our hearts!
Increasing complexity
Self-regulation in nature is always based on the principle of feedback and generally follows a similar scenario. However, at each subsequent level factors appear that complicate the process. For a cell, it is important to maintain a constant internal environment and maintain a certain concentration of various substances. At the next level, the process of self-regulation is called upon to solve many more problems. Therefore, multicellular organisms develop entire systems that maintain homeostasis. These are the respiratory, excretory, circulatory organs and the like. The study of the evolution of the animal and plant world easily makes it clear how, as the structure and external conditions became more complex, the mechanisms of self-regulation improved.
Ecology DIRECTORY
Self-regulation of ecosystems - the most important factor in their existence - is ensured by internal mechanisms, stable connections between their components, trophic and energy relationships.[...]
One of the most characteristic properties of living things is the constancy of the internal environment of the organism under changing external conditions. Body temperature, pressure, gas saturation, concentration of substances, etc. are regulated. The phenomenon of self-regulation occurs not only at the level of the whole organism, but also at the cellular level. In addition, thanks to the activity of living organisms, self-regulation is inherent in the biosphere as a whole. Self-regulation is associated with such properties of living things as heredity and variability.[...]
SELF-REGULATION is the ability of a natural (ecological) system to restore the balance of internal properties after a certain natural or anthropogenic influence. It is based on the principle of feedback from individual subsystems and ecological components that make up the natural system. [...]
The essence of self-regulation in higher animals is that under systematically changing environmental conditions, the constancy of the internal environment is maintained. This is expressed in maintaining a constant body temperature, in the constancy of the chemical, ionic and gas composition, pressure, respiratory rate and heart rate, the constant synthesis of necessary substances and the destruction of harmful ones. Homeostasis, the most important property of the body, is achieved through the joint activity of the nervous, circulatory, immune, endocrine and digestive systems.[...]
Often, self-regulation consists of restructuring the activity of the internal environment of the body, taking into account photoperiodic conditions (shedding of leaves in plants, change of plumage in birds, changes in activity during the day, etc.). It has been established that all eukaryotes have a biological clock and are able to measure daily, lunar and seasonal cycles. The adaptation of many species of organisms to unfavorable living conditions is sh-shoiosis - i.e. a condition characterized by a sharp decrease or even temporary cessation of metabolism (hibernation of animals). All these serious changes are typical for specific species and are determined by their genotype.[...]
Since self-healing and self-regulation are natural properties of ecosystems, soil, air and water in natural ecosystems are capable of self-purification. However, due to the extinction under the pressure of human activity of many biological species - links in trophic chains - ecosystems lose their ability to recover and begin to collapse themselves. [...]
The manifestations and mechanisms of self-regulation of supra-organismal systems—populations and biocenoses—are diverse. At this level, the stability of the structure of populations that make up biocenoses and their numbers are maintained, and the dynamics of all components of ecosystems are regulated in changing environmental conditions. The biosphere itself is an example of maintaining a homeostatic state and manifestations of self-regulation of living systems.[...]
Natural soil ecosystems also lose the ability to self-regulate due to chemical, mechanical, bacterial and physical pollution: industrial, agricultural and municipal waste. In Moscow, the area of significant pollution increased from 100 to 600 km2 from 1977 to 1988. The average content of heavy metals in soils increased 6 times. Removal and storage of solid waste is a problem for any urban economy. Up to 90% of raw materials extracted from the subsoil go to the dumps of mining and processing industry enterprises; the area of the dumps is thousands of square kilometers. [...]
The measure of ecosystems is the processes occurring in them and the self-regulation of these processes.[...]
The main adaptation mechanisms are self-regulation mechanisms. They act both at the cell level and at the level of the organ, system and organism. These mechanisms are based on the following: breakdown products stimulate the synthesis of the parent substance. For example, the breakdown of ATP increases the content of ADP, and the latter increases the synthesis of ATP, while other metabolic processes in the cell are inhibited. The process of cellular self-regulation is not autonomous; it is subject to the regulatory influence of the nervous, endocrine and immune systems, which exercise nervous, humoral and cellular control over the constancy of the internal environment of the body. The inclusion of various levels of adaptation largely depends on the intensity of the disturbing action, the degree of deviation of physiological parameters (Fig. 6). [...]
In the early 60s of our century, the cat concept of self-regulation of populations was proposed, according to which, in the process of population growth, not only and not so much the quality of the environment in which this population exists changes, but the quality of the individuals themselves that make it up. Therefore, the essence of the concept of self-regulation is that any population is able to regulate its numbers so as not to undermine the renewable resources of the habitat, and so that the intervention of any external factors, such as predators or an unfavorable environment, is not required. [...]
The processes of self-regulation in the biosphere are also based on the high activity of living matter. Oxygen production maintains the presence and power of the ozone screen, and thereby the functioning of the “filter” for solar energy and cosmic radiation, and generally regulates the flow of energy flowing to the earth’s surface and to living organisms. The constancy of the mineral composition of ocean waters is maintained by the activity of organisms that actively extract individual elements, which balances their influx with the river runoff entering the ocean. Similar regulation is carried out in many other processes.[...]
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY - a biotic community that preserves its species composition and functional characteristics due to self-regulation or constant influence of an external control factor. An example of self-sustaining systems. climax and nodal communities can serve, and those supported from the outside can serve as paraclimaxes.[...]
Ecosystems have developed in the process of long-term evolution, and they are well-coordinated, stable mechanisms that, through self-regulation, can withstand both changes in the environment and changes in the number of organisms. [...]
Regulatory properties. It was noted earlier that one of the main conditions for the existence of complex systems is their ability to self-regulate, which arises on the basis of feedback. The principle of negative feedback is that the deviation of a system from its normal state activates its inherent mechanisms that “try” to return it to normal. Thus, an increase in the number of prey leads to an increase in the number of predators and parasites. An increase in population density above a certain level, in turn, changes the connections within a species in such a way that its reproductive capacity decreases or the dispersion of individuals in space increases. We emphasize that self-regulation occurs the more successfully, the higher the diversity of species in biocenoses and the more complex the structure of populations.[...]
Significant transformations within biomes and a shift in the balance between lower-order ecosystems inevitably cause self-regulation at the highest level. This is reflected in many natural processes - from changes in the depth of groundwater to the redistribution of air flows. A similar phenomenon is observed at the level of very large biosphere systems when the relationship between the territories of biomes changes. In the course of land development, in the broadest sense of the word, both component and territorial balance are disrupted. To a certain extent, this is permissible and even necessary, because only in a non-equilibrium state are ecosystems capable of producing useful products (remember the formula for the net production of a community). But without knowing the measure, a person strives to get more than nature can give, forgetting that reserves have a foundation from a great variety of elements that are not yet included in the concept of “resources.” [...]
At its core, superconductivity, characteristic of radical ion forms of compounds, is a global phenomenon that ensures cosmic connections and self-regulation on the planet. In other words, Space and Earth, man and nature are macroscopic quantum objects, similar to the orbitals of electrons in an atom.[...]
Most natural ecosystems were formed during a long evolution as a result of a long process of adaptation of species to their environment. As a result of self-regulation, the ecosystem is able, within certain limits, to withstand changing living conditions or sudden changes in population density.[...]
The main goal of environmental design is to construct a dynamic ecological balance of the natural-technical system, stimulate the development of internal connections of self-regulation of the natural system, eliminate the possibility of exploiting objects under the threat of pollution and disruption of the ecological balance. [...]
Thus, by ecological balance during the development of urbanization processes we will understand such a dynamic state of the natural environment, in which self-regulation and reproduction of its main components are ensured - atmospheric air, water resources, soil cover, vegetation and fauna.[...]
The main tasks in this area are the conservation and restoration of landscape and biological diversity sufficient to maintain the ability of natural systems to self-regulate and compensate for the consequences of anthropogenic activities. [...]
One of the main tasks of engineering ecology is the creation of methods and means for the formation and management of PTGs that would ensure their functioning without violating the mechanisms of self-regulation of biosphere objects and the natural balance of nature-forming geospheres. In this regard, the authors were faced with the task of working out and systematizing a wide range of engineering and applied issues that form the necessary knowledge base of a modern engineer.[...]
Homeostasis (is) is a state of mobile equilibrium (constant and stable disequilibrium) of an ecosystem, supported by complex adaptive reactions, constant functional self-regulation of natural systems. [...]
The stage of interaction between society and nature, at which the contradictions between economics and ecology are aggravated to the limit, and the possibility of maintaining potential homeostasis, i.e., the ability of self-regulation and ecosystems under conditions of anthropogenic impact, is seriously undermined, is called the ecological crisis.[...]
Initially, Homo sapiens lived in the natural environment, like all consumers of the ecosystem, and was practically unprotected from the action of its limiting environmental factors. Primitive man was subject to the same factors of regulation and self-regulation of the ecosystem as the entire animal world, his life expectancy was short, and the population density was very low. The main limiting factors were hyperdynamia and malnutrition. Among the causes of mortality, pathogenic (disease-causing) natural influences took first place. Of particular importance among them were infectious diseases, which, as a rule, differed in their natural focality.[...]
The size of a system, or the characteristic size of a system, is its spatial extent (volume, area) or mass, as well as the minimum (maximum) number of subsystems that allows the system to exist and function with self-regulation and self-healing within its characteristic time. System time (characteristic, or proper, time of a system) is time considered within the period of existence of a given system and/or processes occurring in it. These processes are limited by the thermodynamics of the system and its functional features. The combination of the goal of the system, its characteristic time and space creates the prerequisites for the operation of the law of optimality, discussed in Section. 3.2.1. At the same time, since systems with the same functional purpose, formed by feedback, are located at the same level of hierarchy and are therefore limited by the same characteristic time and space, their construction is subject to one set of internal laws. This is the semantic “third dimension” of the table. 2.1, mentioned in chapter 2.[...]
The biosphere, a very dynamic planetary ecosystem, has been constantly changing during all periods of its evolutionary development under the influence of various natural processes. As a result of long evolution, the biosphere has developed the ability to self-regulate and neutralize negative processes. This was achieved through a complex mechanism of the circulation of substances, which we discussed in the second section.[...]
Environmental management can be “hard”, command-driven, neglecting to take into account natural processes or even grossly violating them using technical means, or it can be “soft”, based on influence through the natural mechanisms of self-regulation of ecosystems, i.e. the ability of the latter to restore their properties after anthropogenic impact.[...]
Biocentrism (ecocentrism) is a view according to which (as opposed to anthropocentrism): the interaction of human society with living nature should be subordinated to the ecological imperative - the requirement to preserve the integrity of the self-regulation of the biosphere. [...]
A distinctive feature of the ecosphere is the presence of homeostasis, that is, a state of internal dynamic equilibrium of the system, supported by the regular renewal of its structures, material-energy composition and constant functional self-regulation of its components. [...]
In connection with the search for a way out of the environmental crisis, attempts have intensified to build a scientific theory of the interaction between nature and society. There is a scientific search for the basic laws for optimizing the interaction between society and nature, which would become the laws of self-regulation of the “society-nature” system. Among these laws, the central place belongs to the law of optimal correspondence of the nature of social development to the state of the natural environment.[...]
Biogeocenosis is a homogeneous area of the earth's surface with a historically established specific composition of living organisms and components of inanimate nature (soil, atmosphere, climate, solar energy), characterized by relative stability and self-regulation (Fig. 93). Biogeocenosis is like an elementary structure, a “cell” of the biosphere. There are close connections between individual biogeocenoses, as a result of which a single biogeocenotic cover of the Earth is formed.[...]
ECOSYSTEM is a set of biotic and inert components, which, using an external flow of energy, creates stronger connections (exchange of matter and information) within itself than between the set in question and its environment, which ensures indefinitely long self-regulation and development of the whole under the controlling influence of biotic components. [...]
In the forest, the number of animal species is much greater than that of plants. However, the high productivity (up to 10 tons per 1 ha annually) of producers significantly exceeds the biomass of all animals (about 10 kg per 1 ha). Therefore, only 10-20% of the annual plant growth is used. This ratio is maintained automatically. Self-regulation allows you to maintain species composition and numbers. However, sometimes insect pests of the forest multiply in huge numbers, destroying all the foliage (gypsy moth, leaf rollers). A considerable part of the biomass is mineralized annually. These are plant litter and animal remains that decomposers feed on. These include carrion fly larvae, worms, beetles, bacteria, and fungi.[...]
Each of the “blocks” of the ecosystem is largely azonal - due to the predominance of the processes of cultivation and reclamation of man-made soil structures and certain agricultural techniques for caring for plants. They obviously differ from natural ones, in which natural factors of self-regulation and natural selection predominate. The vegetation of such artificial ecosystems has a high diversity of ornamental species that are stable in urban conditions, both native and introduced. The sustainability of biodiversity is supported not only by the selection of resistant species, but also by the placement of plantings, which ensure the maximum ecological capacity of the territory for fauna.[...]
Some researchers, when defining the subject of social ecology, tend to especially note the role that this young science is called upon to play in harmonizing the relationship of humanity with its environment. According to E.V. Girusov, social ecology should study, first of all, the laws of society and nature, by which he understands the laws of self-regulation of the biosphere, implemented by man in his life. [...]
At the same time, within the framework of the evolution of large space systems (for example, the Solar System), the law of unlimited progress obviously operates: development from simple to complex is evolutionarily unlimited. This pattern should not be taken as an absolute. Progress is unlimited only with very significant efforts and self-regulation as the leading factor of development. It requires constant sacrifices, the number of which is also limited by the limits of reasonable sufficiency, and the duration of “unlimitedness” is still limited by evolutionary frameworks. For the Earth, this is the time of existence of the planet itself. So we can only talk about the quasi-unlimited progress of any Earth systems.[...]
Empirical observations lead to the formulation of the axiom, or the law of systemic separatism: different-quality components of the system are always structurally independent. There is a functional connection between them, there may be interpenetration of elements, but this does not deprive the entities included in the system of structural independence with a common “goal” - the formation and self-regulation of the overall system. For example, an organism consists of organs. Each of them is “not interested” in deteriorating the functioning of another organ or reducing its size. On the contrary, as part of the body system, each organ is closely connected with others humorally and by a common fate. However, the liver cannot be part of the heart, but only a functional component of the digestive system. These are the same relationships in any systems, including their social range, although this is not always realized. The boundaries may not be as clear as in the body between organs (although there they are quite blurred). For example, states in history have repeatedly been enlarged, joining each other, and disaggregated. However, in the end, empires disintegrated due to the law of optimality (see below) of size and the inevitable separatism of nations, peoples, and ethnic groups. This does not contradict the economic and even political unification of states based on the “humoral” connection of the world market. A worldwide unified state as a structurally homogeneous formation is also impossible, just as there cannot be a higher organism made of amorphous cellular matter, undifferentiated tissues, etc. A “melting pot” of nations is possible only as a legal, but not a physical state, unless we are talking about millennia. [...]
With all fluctuations in the number of components, it is subject to the law of redundancy of system elements with a minimum number of organization options: many dynamic systems strive for relative redundancy of their main components with a minimum of organization options. Redundancy in the number of elements often serves as an indispensable condition for the existence of a system, its qualitative and quantitative self-regulation and stabilization of reliability, ensuring its quasi-equilibrium state. At the same time, the number of organization options is strictly limited. Nature often “repeats”; its “fantasy”, if we talk not about the number and variety of elements of the same type, but about the number of types of organization themselves, is very limited. Hence the numerous structural analogies and homologies, single-order forms of organization of social processes, etc. [...]
The peculiarity of hierarchical control systems is that information about the state of the control object can be obtained only from the lower levels of the controlled system. And this predetermines a special (trust-based) relationship between the controlling and management systems and the production system. Hence, the concept of modern information and management environmental systems is based on knowledge of the laws of self-regulation of natural systems, on knowledge of the possible limit of human intervention in these self-regulatory systems, beyond which there are irreversible catastrophic consequences.[...]
Environmental management can be irrational and rational. Irrational environmental management does not ensure the preservation of natural resource potential, leads to impoverishment and deterioration of the quality of the natural environment, is accompanied by pollution and depletion of natural systems, disruption of ecological balance and destruction of ecosystems. Rational environmental management means the comprehensive, scientifically based use of natural resources, which achieves the maximum possible preservation of natural resource potential, with minimal disruption of the ability of ecosystems to self-regulate and self-heal.[...]
Ecosystem management does not require external regulation; it is a self-regulating system. Self-regulating homeostasis at the ecosystem level is ensured by many control mechanisms. One of them is the “predator-prey” subsystem (Fig. 5.3). Between conventionally selected cybernetic blocks, control is carried out through positive and negative connections. Positive feedback "reinforces the deviation", such as increasing the prey population excessively. Negative feedback "reduces deviation", for example, limiting the growth of the prey population by increasing the population size of Predators. This cybernetic diagram (Fig. 5.3a) perfectly illustrates the process of coevolution in the “predator-prey” system, since mutual adaptation processes also develop in this “bundle” (see Fig. 3.5). If other factors interfere with this system (for example, a person destroyed a predator), then the result of self-regulation will be described by a homeostatic plateau (Fig. 5.3 b) - an area of negative connections, and if the system is disrupted, positive feedback connections begin to predominate, which can lead to death systems.[...]
A very brief definition of an ecological system (ecosystem) is the spatially limited interaction of organisms and their environment. The limitation can be physical and chemical (for example, the boundary of a drop of water, a pond, a lake, an island, the limits of the Earth’s biosphere as a whole) or associated with the cycle of substances, the intensity of which within the ecosystem is higher than between it and the outside world. In the latter case, the boundaries of the ecosystem are blurred and there is a more or less wide transition zone. Since all ecosystems form a hierarchy within the planet's biosphere and are functionally interconnected, there is a continuous continuum (as mentioned above, it is problematic between land and ocean). Discontinuity and continuity coexist simultaneously. This was already mentioned in Chapter 2. A diagram of the ecological components of the ecosystem was also shown there (Fig. 2.4). This allows us to give here only its detailed definition: an informationally self-developing, thermodynamically open set of biotic ecological components and abiotic sources of matter and energy, the unity and functional connection of which within the time and space characteristic of a certain area of the biosphere (including the biosphere as a whole) ensures the excess in this area of internal regular movements of matter, energy and information over external exchange (including between neighboring similar populations) and on the basis of this indefinitely long self-regulation and development of the whole under the controlling influence of biotic and biogenic components. [...]
Organismal level
The constancy of the internal environment is best maintained in mammals. The basis for the development of self-regulation and its implementation is the nervous and humoral system. Constantly interacting, they control the processes occurring in the body and contribute to the creation and maintenance of dynamic balance. The brain receives signals from nerve fibers present in every part of the body. Information from the endocrine glands also flows here. The relationship between nervous and hormonal regulation often contributes to almost instantaneous restructuring of ongoing processes.
Feedback
The operation of the system can be observed using the example of maintaining blood pressure. All changes in this indicator are detected by special receptors located on the vessels. An increase or decrease in pressure affects the stretching of the walls of capillaries, veins and arteries. It is these changes that the receptors respond to. The signal is transmitted to the vascular centers, and from them comes “instructions” on how to adjust vascular tone and cardiac activity. The neurohumoral regulation system is also involved. As a result, the pressure returns to normal. It is easy to see that the well-coordinated operation of the regulatory system is based on the same feedback mechanism.
At the head of everything
Self-regulation, the determination of certain adjustments in the body’s activity, underlies all changes in the body and its reactions to external stimuli. Stress and constant loads can lead to hypertrophy of individual organs. An example of this is the developed muscles of athletes and the enlarged lungs of freedivers. The stressor is often illness. Cardiac hypertrophy is a common occurrence in people diagnosed with obesity. This is the body’s response to the need to increase the load on pumping blood.
Self-regulation mechanisms also underlie the physiological reactions that occur during fear. A large amount of the hormone adrenaline is released into the blood, which causes a number of changes: increased oxygen consumption, increased glucose, increased heart rate and mobilization of the muscular system. At the same time, the overall balance is maintained by extinguishing the activity of other components: digestion slows down, sexual reflexes disappear.
External influence
Maintaining homeostasis is accompanied by constant external influence. Changing conditions around the ecosystem lead to the need to adjust internal processes. There are several sustainability criteria:
- high and balanced reproductive potential of individuals;
- adaptation of individual organisms to changing environmental conditions;
- species diversity and branched food chains.
These three conditions help maintain the ecosystem in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Thus, at the level of biogeocenosis, self-regulation in biology is the reproduction of individuals, conservation of numbers and resistance to environmental factors. In this case, as in the case of an individual organism, the equilibrium of the system cannot be absolute.
The concept of self-regulation of living systems extends the described patterns to human communities and public institutions. Its principles are also widely used in psychology. In fact, this is one of the fundamental theories of modern natural science.
CONCEPT OF SELF-REGULATION OF LIVING SYSTEMS
CONCEPT OF SELF-REGULATION OF LIVING SYSTEMS
Self-regulation
- in biology, the property of biological systems to automatically establish and maintain at a certain, relatively constant level certain physiological or other biological indicators. With self-regulation, control factors do not influence the regulated system from the outside, but are formed within it. "Biological encyclopedic dictionary"
Self-regulation in a system is the internal regulation of processes with their subordination to a single stable order. (slide 2)
Moreover, even in changing environmental conditions, a living system retains the relative internal constancy of its composition and properties - homeostasis (from the Greek homoios - similar, identical and stasis - state).
Indeed, the environment is very changeable. Temperature, light, and humidity change. For animals, and even for plants, the availability of food is not regular. They are pestered by parasites, predators and simply competitors for habitat. Nevertheless, animals and plants endure these environmental fluctuations, live, grow, and reproduce. Ecological communities maintain a certain average composition for a long time.
The founder of the idea of physiological homeostasis, Claude Bernard, considered the stability of physicochemical conditions in the internal environment as the basis for the freedom and independence of living organisms in a continuously changing external environment. (slide 3)
Self-regulation occurs at all levels of organization of biological systems - from molecular genetic to biosphere (slide 4). Therefore, the problem of homeostasis in biology is interdisciplinary in nature. To maintain homeostasis in all systems, cybernetic principles of self-regulating systems are used. Cybernetics, the science of control, explains the principle of self-regulation of a system based on direct and feedback connections between its elements. A system is a collection of interacting elements. Direct communication between two elements means the transfer of information from the first to the second in one direction, feedback means the transfer of response information from the second element to the first. The point is that an information signal—direct or reverse—changes the state of the system receiving the signal. And here it is fundamentally important what sign the response signal will be - positive or negative. Accordingly, the feedback will be positive or negative. In the case of positive feedback, the first element signals the second about some changes in its state, and in response receives a command to consolidate this new state and even change it further. Cycle after cycle, the first element, with the help of the second (control) element, accumulates the same changes, its state stably changes in one direction. (Fig. 1a).
slide 5
This situation is characterized as self-organization, development, evolution, and there is no need to talk about any stability of the system. This can be any growth (of a cell, an organism, a population), a change in the species composition in a community of organisms, a change in the concentration of mutations in the gene pool of a population, leading through selection to the evolution of species. Naturally, positive feedback connections not only do not support, but, on the contrary, destroy homeostasis.
Feedback negative connection stimulates changes in the regulated system with the opposite sign relative to those primary changes that gave rise to the direct connection. Initial shifts in the system parameters are eliminated, and it returns to its original state. The cyclic combination of direct positive and reverse negative connections can, theoretically, be infinitely long, since the system oscillates around a certain equilibrium state (Fig. 1b). Thus ,
To maintain system homeostasis, the principle of negative feedback is used.
Next, using specific examples, we will show the self-regulation of biological systems of different levels of complexity.
INTRACELLULAR SELF-REGULATION
In a cell, chemical (molecular) regulatory mechanisms are mainly used to maintain homeostasis. Most important is the regulation of genes on which the production of proteins depends, including numerous and varied enzymes.
The simplest model for demonstrating gene homeostasis is the regulation of the production of an enzyme for the breakdown of lactose in Escherichia coli. To break down and assimilate lactose, messenger RNA and, subsequently, an enzyme are synthesized from a specific structural gene that is part of the lactose operon (the gene along with the regulatory region). If there is no sugar in the medium, the enzyme is not produced, but when sugar is added, the gene is activated and the enzyme is synthesized. But as soon as all the sugar is used by the cell, the gene stops working. How does a cell know about the presence of sugar and its consumption? How does he protect his genes from useless work and waste of energy? It turns out that the lactose operon in Escherichia coli works on the principle of negative feedback, where a special part of the operon, the operator, acts as a regulatory “valve,” and the food substrate itself, lactose, acts as a regulator. Lactose entering the cell itself opens the structural gene, using the operator site as a key. The disappearance of lactose automatically leads to the closure of the gene (slide 6).
In its simplicity, the system of gene regulation by substrate concentration is similar to simple technical regulators. However, in eukaryotes the regulation of gene activity is more complex.
Another example of simple self-regulating systems using negative feedback is represented by enzymatic chains inhibited by the final product. The essence of regulation is that the final product has an affinity for the first enzyme. By binding to the enzyme, the product inhibits (suppresses) its activity, as it completely distorts its tertiary structure. The following regulatory cycle is at work. When the concentration of the final product increases above the required level, its excess inhibits the enzyme chain (to do this, it is enough to stop the very first enzyme). Fermentation stops, and the free product is spent on the needs of the cell. After some time, a deficiency of the product occurs, the block on the enzymes is removed, the chain is activated, and the production of the product increases again. (slide 7)
The third example is the maintenance of intracellular osmotic homeostasis. In the mechanism of occurrence of nerve impulses, sodium ions play an important role, the concentration of which outside the cell must be maintained at a higher level than inside. Thanks to sodium pumps built into the cell membrane, the desired ion gradient is maintained. As soon as a cell receives excess sodium, the sodium pump (its enzyme that breaks down ATP and provides energy) is activated. Sodium is pumped out, its concentration in the cell drops, which serves as a signal to turn off the pump. (slide 
Note, however, that the adjustable parameters are not absolutely constant; they are maintained within acceptable limits. In each case, these are their own physiological boundaries that allow cellular functions to be carried out normally.
SELF-REGULATION OF A MULTICELLULAR ORGANISM
In multicellular organisms, an internal environment appears in which the cells of various organs and tissues are located, and the mechanisms of homeostasis become more complex and improved. During evolution, specialized organs of circulatory, respiratory, digestive, excretory, etc. are formed that are involved in maintaining homeostasis.
Homeostasis is most perfect in mammals, which enhances their ability to adapt to the environment. In mammals, as well as in birds, body temperature is regulated within narrow limits - they are called warm-blooded animals.
The main role in maintaining homeostasis of the body is played by the nervous and hormonal regulatory systems (slide 9).
The most important integrating function is performed by the central nervous system, especially the cerebral cortex. The autonomic nervous system, in particular its sympathetic division, is also of great importance. Hormonal regulation is provided by the endocrine gland system. The central endocrine gland - the pituitary gland - has a direct connection with the brain (through the hypothalamus), and its hormones affect all local endocrine glands through the blood.
Hormones secreted by the endocrine glands are distributed through the bloodstream (humorally) to all target organs and participate in the regulation of their growth and functioning. Thus, in fact, thanks to the connection between the nervous and endocrine systems, a unified neurohormonal self-regulation of the body is carried out. (slide 10)
The regulation of eating behavior in vertebrates and humans is interesting and indicative. The hypothalamus contains the centers of hunger and satiety. A lack of glucose occurs in the blood of a hungry animal (or person). Low blood glucose concentration leads to irritation of the hunger center. Nerve fibers send commands to the brain and muscles, and the search for food is organized. When food is found, the mechanisms of nutrition, digestion and absorption of products into the blood are activated. The concentration of glucose in the blood increases, which leads to irritation of the saturation center, further to suppression of appetite and cessation of nutrition. When glucose is consumed, its concentration in the blood decreases again, which irritates the hunger center. The cycle repeats. Since the hypothalamus is connected both to the nerve centers and to the entire endocrine system, the cycle of eating behavior is also synchronized with the neuro-reflex and humoral regulation of the glands of the digestive tract: saliva, gastric juice, pancreatic and intestinal enzymes are released, peristalsis is mobilized. (slide 11)
The negative feedback mechanism is involved in maintaining a constant number of cells in renewing tissues, such as blood, intestinal or skin epithelium. (slide 12)
These tissues contain a reserve of undifferentiated cells (for example, red bone marrow for blood) that repeatedly divide, differentiate, work, age and die. It is believed that mature cells secrete substances that inhibit young dividing cells. A chain of interdependent reactions is built: with an excess of mature cells, inhibitor production is high and cell proliferation is suppressed; a decrease in the number of mature cells as a result of their natural death is accompanied by a decrease in the concentration of the inhibitor in the medium; the cell division block is removed; the proliferation of young cells increases; the number of mature cells is restored. Then the inhibitor production increases again and the cycle repeats. The total number of mature cells in the tissue fluctuates around a certain average level and does not sharply decrease or increase. According to the mechanism of signal transmission, here we have a humoral system; the inhibitor works as an interstitial “hormone”.
Among the regulatory systems that ensure the internal constancy of the body, in addition to the nervous and endocrine ones, include the immune system (slide 13), which monitors and maintains the genetic purity of the internal environment and tissues of the body, eliminating invading viruses, microbes or its own mutant cells. As in the case of intracellular regulation, we must note that the homeostasis of the body is not absolute. Any parameters: body temperature, blood pressure, eating behavior, heart rate, number of cells in tissue and many others are in an oscillatory mode. This follows from the very nature of the regulation mechanism - direct and feedback are closed in a cycle, the rotation of which requires a certain time. During this time, the controlled system manages to change in one direction or another, which is expressed in fluctuations in its parameters. But the average level of the parameter must correspond to the norm, and the range of its fluctuations must not go beyond physiological limits.
Normal fluctuations in the functional characteristics of the body occur constantly and are called biorhythms. (slide 14) The rate of protein synthesis in a cell fluctuates in a near-hourly (1.5 - 2 hours) rhythm; most organismal rhythms have a near-daily periodicity; there are monthly, annual and even long-term rhythms. The vast majority of biorhythms are induced; they are formed under the influence of abiotic (non-biological) rhythms of the external environment. In general, the oscillatory state of the system is the most stable. That is why the oscillatory state of the internal environment of the body acts as an important factor in maintaining homeostasis.
SELF-REGULATION IN ECOSYSTEMS
The concept of ecosystem homeostasis in ecology was developed by F. Clements (1949) (slide 15). Equilibrium in ecosystems by feedback processes. Homeostasis is the ability of a population or ecosystem to maintain stable dynamic equilibrium in changing environmental conditions. In homeostasis (stability) of living systems there are:
- Endurance (survivability, tolerance - the ability to withstand changes in the environment without disturbing the basic properties of the system.
- Elasticity (resistance, resistance) is the ability to quickly independently return to a normal state from an unstable one, which arose as a result of external adverse effects on the system.
Population homeostasis is determined by the maintenance of spatial structure, density and genetic diversity. At the ecosystem level, homeostasis manifests itself in the most stable forms of interaction between species, which is expressed in adaptation to the characteristics of the environment and the maintenance of nutrient cycles. One can even consider the homeostasis of the biosphere, in which the interaction of various organisms maintains the constancy of the gas composition of the atmosphere, the composition of soils, the composition and concentration of salts of the world ocean, etc.
Homeostasis is ensured by the operation of regulatory mechanisms operating on the principle of negative feedback. Sudden changes in environmental characteristics, in which they (or one of them) go beyond the acceptable limits, are called environmental stress.
In ecosystems, as a result of the interaction of the circulation of substances, energy flows and feedback signals from subsystems, self-regulating homeostasis arises. Control mechanisms at the ecosystem level include, for example, subsystems such as the microbial population that regulates the accumulation and release of nutrients.
The “predator-prey” subsystem also regulates the density of both predator and prey populations. Let's consider the simplest ecosystem: hare-lynx, consisting of two trophic levels. (slide 16) When the number of hares is small, each of them can find enough food and comfortable shelters for themselves and their cubs. Those. environmental resistance is low, and the number of hares increases, despite the presence of a predator. The abundance of hares makes it easier for lynx to hunt and feed their young. As a result, the number of predators also increases. This shows positive feedback. However, as the number of hares increases, the amount of food and shelter decreases and predation increases, i.e. environmental resistance increases. As a result, the number of hares is decreasing. It becomes more difficult for predators to hunt, they experience a lack of food and their numbers fall. This manifests itself as a negative feedback that compensates for deviations and returns the ecosystem to its original state.
Such fluctuations occur periodically around a certain average level. The growth, decline and persistence of a population depends on the relationship between biotic potential and environmental resistance. The principle of population change: this is the result of an imbalance between biotic potential and the resistance of its environment. Such an equilibrium is dynamic, because environmental resistance factors rarely remain unchanged for a long time. (slide 17)
Equilibrium in ecosystems is ensured by the redundancy of organisms performing the same functions. For example, if there are several plant species in a community, each of which develops in its own temperature range, then the rate of photosynthesis of the ecosystem may remain almost unchanged for a long time. As stress increases, the system may be unable to return to its previous level, although it remains manageable. For ecosystems, not one, but several equilibrium states are possible. After stressful influences, they often return to another, new, state of equilibrium.
For example, a huge amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere as a result of human activity is absorbed by the ocean carbonate buffer system and autotrophs: (slide 18)
CO2 + CaCO3 + H2O = Ca (HCO3)2
Light
CO2 + H2O = (CH2O) n+ O2.
As the influx of CO2 increases, the buffer capacity of the biosphere may become insufficient, and a new equilibrium will be established in the atmosphere between
CO2 and O2. In this case, even small changes can have far-reaching consequences: evolutionary adjustment must occur for reliable homeostatic control to reappear. In addition to those discussed, there are many other mechanisms that ensure the stability and homeostasis of ecosystems. For example, the ability of a population to adapt to new environmental conditions depends on the degree of heterozygosity. Competition is also a mechanism of homeostasis.
Balance is a relative concept. Equilibrium in natural ecosystems depends on population density. If the population density increases, environmental resistance increases, and therefore mortality increases and population growth stops. And, conversely, with a decrease in population density, environmental resistance weakens and the previous number is restored. Human impact on nature often leads to the extinction of populations, because does not depend on population density.
The stability of ecosystems in ecology means the property of any system to return to its original state after it has been removed from a state of equilibrium. Stability is determined by the resistance of ecosystems to external influences. There are two types of stability: resistant and elastic.
Resistance is the ability of an ecosystem to resist disturbances, maintaining its structure and function unchanged.
Elastic stability is the ability of a system to quickly recover after a disruption of structure and function.
It is difficult for a system to simultaneously develop both types of stability: they are connected by feedback, and sometimes exclude each other. For example, the California redwood forest is resistant to fire (high resilience), but if it burns, it recovers very slowly or not at all (low resilience). Heather thickets easily burn out (low resistance resistance), but quickly recover (high elastic resistance)
Man is the most powerful creature capable of changing the functioning of ecosystems. The human brain has so far relied primarily on positive feedback to control and dominate nature. This led to the development of technology and increased exploitation of resources. But this process will ultimately lead to a decrease in the quality of life and destruction of the environment if ways of adequate control through negative feedback are not found.
The existence of humanity is possible only if the regulatory mechanisms that allow the biosphere to adapt to certain anthropogenic influences are preserved. In an effort to reduce the level of environmental pollution, a person should equally strive to preserve the self-regulatory mechanisms that support the natural life support systems of the planet, i.e. to preserve the ecological balance established in nature, which is not always achieved only by reducing the level of pollution and economical use of natural resources.
Conclusion (slide 19)
Self-regulation and maintenance of a stable state - homeostasis - is a mandatory property of living systems, regardless of their level of complexity. The relative constancy of the physical and chemical parameters of the cell is regulated and maintained. The state of the tissues and organs of a multicellular organism is maintained within the physiological norm. The composition of living communities in biocenoses is reproduced. The basis for maintaining homeostasis is the universal principle of negative feedback.
At the same time, living systems change directionally and irreversibly and self-organize, which is the essence of their development. Cells differentiate, work and die. Organisms grow, reproduce, age and die. Biocenoses undergo succession and also change irreversibly with climate change on Earth. A directed change in a biosystem is essentially the opposite of homeostasis; it occurs on the basis of positive feedback.
The stability and immutability of biosystems, on the one hand, and their gradual change and development, on the other, represent a dialectical unity of opposites, which is expressed by the concept of sustainable development.
Literature:
1. A.P. Anisimov The concept of modern natural science. Biology. Far Eastern State University, Pacific Institute of Distance Education and Technology, Vladivostok, 2000
2 Biological encyclopedic dictionary
