Dear Alice,
You wrote: "The way I interpret "The ecosystem changes; the organism changes; they prosper together" is that there is a notable degree of predictability and intent...In a complex environment, I think different words are needed."
I prefer Protugali's SIRN Model broad vocabulary which refers to "Interplay between internal and external representations".
Portugali, J. (2002). The Seven Basic Propositions of SIRN (Synergetic Inter-Representation Networks). Nonlinear Phenomena in Complex Systems, 5 (4), 428-444.
http://www.j-npcs.org/abstracts/vol2002/v5no4/v5no4p428.html