Glossary of Systems Theory - A

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• Adaptive capacity: An important part of the resilience of systems in the face of a perturbation, helping to minimise loss of function in individual human, and collective social and biological systems.

• Allopoiesis is the process whereby a system produces something other than the system itself.

• Allostasis is the process of achieving stability, or homeostasis, through physiological or behavioral change.

• Autopoiesis is the process by which a system regenerates itself through the self-reproduction of its own elements and of the network of interactions that characterize them. An autopoietic system renews, repairs, and replicates or reproduces itself in a flow of matter and energy. Note: from a strictly Maturanian point of view, autopoiesis is an essential property of biological/living systems.