FUNCTIONAL CHANGES INDUCED BY RADIATIONS 499 



eluding population groups) varies directly with ecoforce and inversely with 

 deterrent influences, aids in understanding the nature of community-wide 

 situations and problems that follow environmental irradiation. It also aids 

 in understanding something of the requirements for experimental designs. 



First, the formulation points up the logical and obvious feature, that when 

 deterrent forces (R) are great, failure of the ecosystem will occur when the 

 ecoforce is diminished only slightly; conversely, it indicates that when the 

 deterrent influences are of low^ order, failure will not occur until the ecoforce 

 has diminished to a low level — as is the situation in late life. Recognition of 

 this situation suggests a useful experimental approach. When loss of capabil- 

 ity is the effect being studied or analyzed, evidence of change is revealed 

 more readily and earlier by applying additional stress sufficient to cause 

 failure in the upper range of fitness, that is, by requiring the ecoentity to ex- 

 ceed more quickly the capacity of the fitness reserve. 



Second, the formulation points the way for dealing meaningfully with 

 changes in ecoforce, even though ecoforce cannot be measured directly. By 

 keeping the environmental deterrents constant (i.e., by keeping uniform con- 

 trol conditions) and by measuring adaptiveness at different times, changes in 

 rate of ecoforce deterioration are obtained. Then, by comparing rate changes 

 in experimental and control samples, information is obtained indicating 

 how an affecting agent, such as radiation, modifies ecoforce — a central 

 objective in studies of residual capabilities. 



Third, the formulation gives a perspective of the deterrent factor, R. In 

 nature, this factor is comprised of many elements. To determine the effects 

 of a single deterrent element, such as low level environmental radiation, its 

 influence must be considered in relation to other deterrents that are inherent 

 in the situation, such as parasitism, infectious diseases, air pollution, nutri- 

 tional deficiencies, toxicities, oppressive climates, intemperances, tensions, 

 antagonisms, insecurity, and suppression. To be worthy of concern as an 

 impediment to life capabilities, radiation effects must be significantly large 

 compared with the effects produced by other deterrents. 



Summary 



Attention has been called to biologic processes as energy mechanisms. 



Central components of life mechanisms have been designated as: adaptive- 

 ness, meaning capability of ecoentities to perfoiTn; ecoforce, meaning degree 

 of organization for biologic function; and deterrent influences, meaning all 

 forces acting to reduce the organization for life. 



As a theorem, it is stated that adaptiveness varies directly with ecoforce 

 and inversely with deterrent infiuences. 



By relating the central components of biologic mechanisms logically and 



