Homeorhesis, derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

for "similar flow", is a concept encompassing

dynamical systems In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a Function (mathematics), function describes the time dependence of a Point (geometry), point in an ambient space, such as in a parametric curve. Examples include the mathematical models ...

which return to a

trajectory A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete tra ...

, as opposed to systems which return to a particular state, which is termed

homeostasis In biology, homeostasis (British English, British also homoeostasis; ) is the state of steady internal physics, physical and chemistry, chemical conditions maintained by organism, living systems. This is the condition of optimal functioning fo ...

Biology

Homeorhesis is steady flow. Often biological systems are inaccurately described as homeostatic, being in a steady state. Steady state implies equilibrium which is never reached, nor are organisms and ecosystems in a closed environment. During his tenure at the State University of New York at Oneonta, Dr William Butts correctly applied the term homeorhesis to biological organisms. The term was created by C.H. Waddington and first used in biology in his book Strategy of the Genes (1957), where he described the tendency of developing or changing organisms to continue development or adapting to their environment and changing towards a given state.

Gaia hypothesis

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

the concept is important as an element of the

Gaia hypothesis The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their Inorganic compound, inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a Synergy, synergistic and Homeostasis, s ...

, where the system under consideration is the ecological balance of different forms of life on the planet.

James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating syst ...

and

Lynn Margulis Lynn Margulis (born Lynn Petra Alexander; March 5, 1938 – November 22, 2011) was an American evolutionary biologist, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiogenesis, symbiosis in evolution. In particular, Margulis tr ...

, coauthors of Gaia hypothesis, wrote in particular that only homeorhetic, and not homeostatic, balances are involved in the theory. That is, the composition of Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere, and

lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the lithospheric mantle, the topmost portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time ...

are regulated around "set points" as in homeostasis, but those set points change with time.

References

Systems theory Ecology Homeostasis {{Systemstheory-stub