Daisyworld homeostasis and the earth system

This chapter examines the Daisymodel's steady state solution with emphasis on the mechanisms that stabilise the system. This shows that the model's formulations decouple the equilibrium temperature
to a large extent from incoming radiation. Such formulations obviously stabilise the planetary temperature subject to variations in incoming radiation. The heat transport formulation used in the Daisymodel is found to be essential to the model's homeostatic behaviour around a set point. Finally,this chapter reviews work that has altered the assumption of a fixed set point (the biological optimal temperature) showing that adapting daisies are no longer homeostatic. We hope that this analysis stimulates the search for a model based on more realistic concepts.