RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Thermostatistical distribution of a trophic energy proxy with analytical consequences for evolutionary ecology, species coexistence and the maximum entropy formalism
A1 Fernández-Palacios, José María
K1 Ecosystem ecology
K1 Ecological state equation
K1 Ecological pyramid
K1 Food chain
K1 Partition function
K1 Physics
K1 Ecología de ecosistemas
K1 Ecuación de estado ecológica
K1 Pirámide ecológica
K1 Cadena alimenticia
K1 Función de partición
K1 Física
AB Conventional thermodynamics and statistical mechanics deal with the study of physical systems underequilibrium conditions (EC). Internal EC at a temperature that differs from the environment temperatureare sustained, in general, by some type of artificial boundaries imposed with research aims or withquotidian utility goals in many kind of domestic appliances; the typical example of academic lab is aclosed system immersed in a thermal bath which keeps the temperature constant. However, theecosystem is a far-from-EC open system. Therefore, conventional thermodynamics and statisticalmechanics tend to be orthodoxly regarded as limited to explain the ecosystem functioning since, at thefirst glance; there seem to be several essential functional differences between it and the previously-mentioned kind of physical systems. This viewpoint averse to conventional physics is paradoxical inregard to the current ecological paradigm given the fully thermodynamic foundation of ecosystemecology. However, additional evidence in favor of the usefulness of conventional physics to describe theecosystem functioning have recently been published, pointing out to the possibility that the analyticalapproach to ecology based on our undergraduate knowledge of physics, unfortunately, could have beenhastily neglected before producing its most valuable results. This paper, fully based on the above-mentioned evidence, performs an unavoidable additional step in order to complete such a proposal byshowing that the Boltzmann distribution of molecular energy values can be simply and successfullyadapted to model the distribution of values of a proxy for trophic energy across an increasing gradient ofenergy levels, in a very similar fashion to that of a standard trophic pyramid. Starting from this result andby using a balanced combination between plausible theoretical considerations and abundant empiricaldata, we analyze why this approach is in agreement with well-known ecological principles, at the sametime that we explore the general empirical advantages and aftermaths derived from this suggestion.Finally, the article explores the usefulness of the thermo-statistical modeling of eco-kinetic energy perplot to understand those essential physical factors that: promote biological evolution, facilitate speciescoexistence, can explain the holes in the fossil record, and enhance our current viewpoint about theecological meaning of entropy. In summary, this article provides simply understandable additionalinformation that indicates, despite its far-from-EC nature, any natural ecosystem is not far away from themost orthodox principles of conventional physics.
PB Elsevier BV
YR 2015
FD 2015
LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/18530
UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/18530
LA en
NO Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia
DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
RD 12-jul-2024