Thermodynamics and Ecological Modelling

by Jorgensen; Sven E.

• ISBN13: 9781566702720
• ISBN10: 1566702720
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-09-28
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

Thermodynamics is used increasingly in ecology to understand the system properties of ecosystems because it is a basic science that describes energy transformation from a holistic view. In the last decade, many contributions to ecosystem theory based on thermodynamics have been published, therefore an important step toward integrating these theories and encouraging a more wide spread use of them is to present them in one volume.An ecosystem consists of interdependent living organisms that are also interdependent with their environment, all of which are involved in a constant transfer of energy and mass within a general state of equilibrium or dis-equilibrium. Thermodynamics can quantify exactly how "organized" or "disorganized" a system is - an extremely useful to know when trying to understand how a dynamic ecosystem is behaving.A part of the Environmental and Ecological (Math) Modeling series, Thermodynamics and Ecology is a book-length study - the first of its kind - of the current thinking on how an ecosystem can be explained and predicted in terms of its thermodynamical behavior. After the introductory chapters on the fundamentals of thermodynamics, the book explains how thermodynamic theory can be specifically applied to the "measurement" of an ecosystem, including the assessment of its state of entropy and enthalpy. Additionally, it will show economists how to put these theories to use when trying to quantify the movement of goods and services through another type of complex living system - a human society.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(3)
Sven E. Jorgensen
Exosomatic Structures and Captive Energies Relevant in Succession and Evolution	3	(14)
Ramon Margalef
How Light and Nutrients Affect Life in a Closed Bottle	17	(44)
S. A. L. M. Kooijman
R. M. Nisbet
Emergy Accounting of Human-Dominated, Large-Scale Ecosystems	61	(54)
Sergio Ulgiati
Mark T. Brown
Thermodynamics and Theory of Stability	115	(18)
Yuri M. Svirezhev
Application of Thermodynamic Concepts to Real Ecosystems: Anthropogenic Impact and Agriculture	133	(20)
Yuri M. Svirezhev
The Thermodynamic Concept: Exergy	153	(12)
Sven E. Jrgensen
Entropy and the Exergy Principles in Living Systems	165	(26)
Ichiro Aoki
Exergy and the Emergence of Multidimensional System Orientation	191	(20)
Hartmut Bossel
Thermodynamics and Ecology: Far from Thermodynamic Equilibrium	211	(18)
Yuri M. Svirezhev
Imperfect Symmetry: Action Principles in Ecology and Evolution	229	(58)
Lionel Johnson
The Third Law of Thermodynamics Applied in Ecosystem Theory	287	(16)
Sven E. Jrgensen
A Tentative Fourth Law of Thermodynamics	303	(46)
Sven E. Jrgensen
Thermodynamics of the Biosphere	349	(16)
Yuri M. Svirezhev
Index	365