Ecological complexity in the Rosennean framework

Rosen's mathematical framing of the nature of complexity can be summarized qualitatively as simple systems are reducible to models that correspond precisely to nature while complex systems are not reducible in this manner. We use two examples, Tribolium laboratory populations and the pest control system in coffee agroecosystems to argue that either a very simple system or a very complicated system cannot be reduced to a series of simple systems and thus conform to Rosennean complexity. We further suggest that alternative framings, specifically dialectical complexity, may be equally useful.