RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Distribution of species diversity values: A link between classical andquantum mechanics in ecology
A1 Fernández-Palacios, José María
K1 Biodiversity
K1 Ecological state equation
K1 Ecosystem ecology
K1 Maxwell–Boltzmann velocity distribution
K1 Quantum mechanics
K1 Statistical mechanics
K1 Biodiversidad
K1 Ecuación de estado ecológica
K1 Ecología de ecosistemas
K1 Distribución de la velocidad de Maxwell-Boltzman
K1 Mecánica cuántica
K1 Mecánica estadística
AB Despite the well-known thermodynamic traits of ecosystem functioning, their description by means ofconventional physics should be regarded as incomplete, even if we take into account the most recentadvancements in this field. The analytical difficulties in this field have been especially complex to get areliable modeling of species diversity per plot (Hp) by endowing this indicator with a fully clear theoreticalmeaning. This article contributes to resolve such difficulties starting from (a) the previous proposal of anecological state equation, and (b) the preceding empirical finding of an ecological equivalent of Planck’sconstant at the evolutionary scale. So, in the first instance, this article proposes an equation for densitydistributions of Hpvalues (EDH) based on a simple transformation of the Maxwell–Boltzmann distributionfor molecular velocity values (M–BDv). Our results indicate that the above-mentioned equation allows anappropriate fit between expected and observed distributions. Besides, the transformation from M–BDvto EDHestablishes connections between species diversity and other indicators that are consistent withwell-known ecological principles. This article, in the second instance, uses EDHs from a wide spectrumof surveys as an analytical framework to explore the nature and meaning of stationary trophic informa-tion waves (STIWs) whose stationary nature depends on the biomass-dispersal trade-off in function ofHpvalues (B-DTO-H) that characterizes the most of the explored surveys. B-DTO-Hmakes these surveysbehave as ecological cavity resonators (ECR) by trapping functional oscillations that bounce back andforth between the two opposite edges of the ECR: from r-strategy (at low biomass and diversity, andhigh dispersal) to K-strategy, and vice versa. STIWs were obtained by using the spline-adjusted valuesfrom the arithmetical difference between standardized values of species richness (S) and evenness (J ) infunction of Hpvalues (i.e., a 2D scalar space Hp, S–J ). Twice the distance on the abscissas (2 Hp) betweensuccessive extreme values on the ordinates (whatever a maximum or a minimum) along the above-mentioned spline adjustment was taken as the value of ecological wavelength ( e).  ewas assessed inorder to obtain the value of the ecological equivalent of Planck’s constant (heec) at the intra-survey scalethat was calculated as: heec=  e× me× Ie; where me: individual biomass, and Ie: an ad-hoc indicator ofdispersal activity. Our main result is that the observed value of heec’s mantissa is statistically equivalentto the mantissa of the physical Planck’s constant (h = 6.62606957E − 34 J s) in all of the discontinuous(i.e., with interspersed categories in which n = 0) statistical density distributions of Hpvalues per survey.This means that heec= 6.62606957Eϕ Jenat/individual, where ϕ = −xi, . . ., −3, −2, −1, 0,+1, +2, +3, . . .,+xidepending on the type of taxocenosis explored. That is to say, heecindicates the minimum amount ofenergy exchange allowed between two individuals. The exploration of the analytical meaning of thisresult in the final sections of the article explains why quantum mechanics (QM) is a useful tool in orderto explain several key questions in evolutionary biology and ecology, as for example: the physical limitof adaptive radiation; the balance between competitive exclusion and functional redundancy to promotespecies coexistence by avoiding the negative effects of competitive exclusion; the apparent holes in thefossil record; the progression of body size along a wide spectrum of taxa as a general evolutionary trend;the non-continuous nature of net energy flow at the ecosystem level; the way in which the energy levelis stabilized under stationary ecological conditions; the reasons of the higher sensitivity of high diver-sity ecosystems under environmental impact despite their higher stability under natural conditions; thetangible expression of complex concept as ecological inertia and elasticity; as well as the increased riskfrom pushing the biosphere until a rupture limit because of the potential discrete behavior of ecologicalresilience in the large scale due to the quantum nature of ecosystem functioning.
PB Elsevier BV
YR 2015
FD 2015
LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/18604
UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/18604
LA en
DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
RD 13-nov-2024