Autumn in New Hampshire is a wonderful time to watch and observe some easily recognizable stages of natural cycles: hawks migrating, leaves changing color…bears fattening up as they get ready to hibernate. But while we tend to think of cycles as a circular, repeatable pattern, unfolding year after year-- we should note that there are varying degrees of “cyclical” activity that can be quite complicated. The main reason for this? Nature is filled entropy, or randomness. Political historian Henry Adams once said “Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man.” Take for example, the erratic cycles of both the majestic Monarch butterfly, and the humble acorn. You might have noticed an abundance of monarch butterflies in your garden these past few weeks, and many more acorns underfoot. Both are emblematic of the dramatic variations in population numbers and population dynamics, and both are complicated by a lot of factors. Precipitation, predation, reproductive potential, what