Fig 1 -

Conceptual illustration of critical fluctuations in a given behavior followed by a sudden gain (upper panel), expressed as the level of dynamic complexity (lower panel). The transition from a stable state (starting at day 1 and ending around day 10) to a second stable state (starting around day 17) is characterized by a period of instability in which the behavior of the system displays critical fluctuations (upper panel). The greater the fluctuations in the behavior, the higher the dynamic complexity score (lower panel). Work in critical transitions across various systems indicate that instability can be observed shortly before a phase transition; increases in dynamic complexity can thus be seen as a form of early warning signal for either sudden gains and/or losses in a given system [35, 37]. Note that the Figure’s x axis represents continuous time but does not refer to a specific time unit, as this approach can be used to describe both rapid- and slow-evolving processes. The time unit here can thus conceptually vary from seconds to years.