Dependency is not reducible to causation, but this does not mean that dependency claims are noncausal.
Some APS arrows may express causal relationships. Others may concern constitution, enabling conditions, constraints, structure, spatial or temporal organisation, history, or conceptual presupposition. A single arrow may combine several relations.
The relation must therefore be identified before the evidence is assessed.
A causal claim requires evidence appropriate to causal difference-making and mechanism. Evidence of causation does not automatically establish constitution or necessity. Likewise, a conceptual relationship among APS definitions does not establish a material biological dependency.
An arrow should never be interpreted as causal—or noncausal—merely because it appears in an APS pathway.