How the Second Law of Thermodynamics Has Informed Ecosystem Ecology through Its History

Chapman, Eric J.; Childers, Daniel L.; Vallino, Joseph J.

doi:10.1093/biosci/biv166

Cited by 32 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There are two important consequences of the assumption of universal trade‐offs: first, trait diversification is correlated with an increase in resource use efficiency, a principle termed the “maximum power principle” in the systems ecology literature (Odum and Pinkerton , Chapman et al. ), although the potential increase in efficiency is determined by genetic diversity and phylogenetic, biological, and physical constraints, and, second, trade‐offs result in increased functional complementarity and redundancy among organisms, both of which contribute to ecosystem response to pulse events. Thus, pulse dynamics are one cause of an increasingly strong correlation between biodiversity and ecosystem function as temporal and spatial scale increases (Oliver et al.…”

Section: The Four Postulates Necessary For a Theory Of Pulse Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, energy flux ultimately can link evolution with metabolism (Brown et al 2004), because fitness can be expressed in units relative to energy use (Lotka 1922a, b). A central premise of systems ecology is that energy flow is used to create order and information and thus necessarily also produces entropy as a consequence of the second law of thermodynamics , Chapman et al 2016).…”

Section: Concepts and Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A theory of pulse dynamics and disturbance in ecology

Jentsch

White

2019

Ecology

190

143

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We propose four postulates as the minimum set of logical propositions necessary for a theory of pulse dynamics and disturbance in ecosystems: (1) resource dynamics characterizes the magnitude, rate, and duration of resource change caused by pulse events, including the continuing changes in resources that are the result of abiotic and biotic processes; (2) energy flux characterizes the energy flow that controls the variation in the rates of resource assimilation across ecosystems; (3) patch dynamics characterizes the distribution of resource patches over space and time, and the resulting patterns of biotic diversity, ecosystem structure, and cross‐scale feedbacks of pulses processes; and (4) biotic trait diversity characterizes the evolutionary responses to pulse dynamics and, in turn, the way trait diversity affects ecosystem dynamics during and after pulse events. We apply the four postulates to an important class of pulse events, biomass‐altering disturbances, and derive seven generalizations that predict disturbance magnitude, resource trajectory, rate of resource change, disturbance probability, biotic trait diversification at evolutionary scales, biotic diversity at ecological scales, and functional resilience. Ultimately, theory must define the variable combinations that result in dynamic stability, comprising resistance, recovery, and adaptation.

show abstract

Section: The Four Postulates Necessary For a Theory Of Pulse Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Concepts and Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

A theory of pulse dynamics and disturbance in ecology

Jentsch

White

2019

Ecology

190

143

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Understanding how ecosystems function at the systems level has a long tradition in theoretical ecology (Chapman et al, 2016;Vallino and Algar, 2016), with the underlying premise that ecosystems organize so as to maximize an objective function, such as maximizing power proposed by Lotka (1922) nearly 100 years ago. The advantage of the systems approach is that optimization can be used to determine how an ecosystem will organize and function without the knowledge of which organisms are present and how their population changes over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Maximum Entropy Production to Describe Microbial Biogeochemistry Over Time and Space in a Meromictic Pond

Vallino

Huber

2018

Front. Environ. Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The approach also stated that these structures would develop in a certain direction, towards a minimum dissipation state. Another set of controversies—in short minimization vs. maximization of entropy formation—arose as the activity always at the same time results in increased dissipation, i.e., more entropy to be formed [ 141 , 142 , 143 , 144 , 145 ]. This apparent controversy still awaits further discussions and resolution, in particular at the area of ecology and ecosystems.…”

Section: Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermodynamics in Ecology—An Introductory Review

Nielsen

Müller

Marques

et al. 2020

Entropy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How to predict the evolution of ecosystems is one of the numerous questions asked of ecologists by managers and politicians. To answer this we will need to give a scientific definition to concepts like sustainability, integrity, resilience and ecosystem health. This is not an easy task, as modern ecosystem theory exemplifies. Ecosystems show a high degree of complexity, based upon a high number of compartments, interactions and regulations. The last two decades have offered proposals for interpretation of ecosystems within a framework of thermodynamics. The entrance point of such an understanding of ecosystems was delivered more than 50 years ago through Schrödinger’s and Prigogine’s interpretations of living systems as “negentropy feeders” and “dissipative structures”, respectively. Combining these views from the far from equilibrium thermodynamics to traditional classical thermodynamics, and ecology is obviously not going to happen without problems. There seems little reason to doubt that far from equilibrium systems, such as organisms or ecosystems, also have to obey fundamental physical principles such as mass conservation, first and second law of thermodynamics. Both have been applied in ecology since the 1950s and lately the concepts of exergy and entropy have been introduced. Exergy has recently been proposed, from several directions, as a useful indicator of the state, structure and function of the ecosystem. The proposals take two main directions, one concerned with the exergy stored in the ecosystem, the other with the exergy degraded and entropy formation. The implementation of exergy in ecology has often been explained as a translation of the Darwinian principle of “survival of the fittest” into thermodynamics. The fittest ecosystem, being the one able to use and store fluxes of energy and materials in the most efficient manner. The major problem in the transfer to ecology is that thermodynamic properties can only be calculated and not measured. Most of the supportive evidence comes from aquatic ecosystems. Results show that natural and culturally induced changes in the ecosystems, are accompanied by a variations in exergy. In brief, ecological succession is followed by an increase of exergy. This paper aims to describe the state-of-the-art in implementation of thermodynamics into ecology. This includes a brief outline of the history and the derivation of the thermodynamic functions used today. Examples of applications and results achieved up to now are given, and the importance to management laid out. Some suggestions for essential future research agendas of issues that needs resolution are given.

show abstract

How the Second Law of Thermodynamics Has Informed Ecosystem Ecology through Its History

Cited by 32 publications

References 56 publications

A theory of pulse dynamics and disturbance in ecology

A theory of pulse dynamics and disturbance in ecology

Using Maximum Entropy Production to Describe Microbial Biogeochemistry Over Time and Space in a Meromictic Pond

Thermodynamics in Ecology—An Introductory Review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About