Study of the characteristics of natural systems has led to valuable insights into the mechanisms that drive the behavior and evolution of the systems:

Competition
The constant evolution of capabilities in competing members of a natural ecology moves the entire system to a “fitter”, more robust state. Frogs evolve stickier tongues, flies evolve slipperier wings, each is improved by the exercise.

Emergent Properties
The “group sense” that leads ants to form bridges, go to war, move the nest, regulate the temperature of the nest are all examples of emergent properties.

Variation
The constant, accidental variation found in reproduction, by a costly process of trial and error, extends and improves the species. The explosion of life forms in the fossil record at the beginning of the Cambrian period produced many new “candidate” life forms, only some of which proved successful.

Phase transitions
A CAS tends to move from a stable to a chaotic state quickly and without warning

Optimization on the edge of Chaos
The optimum solution to many complex systems often lies on or near the boundary between the stable and chaotic state

Sensitivity to change of initial factors
A CAS tends to be highly sensitive to changes in the initial state of the model, in terms its ultimate behavior