Jorge Wagensberg

On biomass diversity in ecology

We postulate that the biomass distribution function for an ecological population may be derived from the condition that the biomas diversity functional is maximal subject to an energetic constraint on the total biomass. This leads to a biomass distribution of the form

Connectivity and information transfer in flow networks two magic numbers in ecology

p(m) = \bar m^{ - 1} \exp ( - m/\bar m)

The [extended] Maximum Entropy Formalism and the statistical structure of ecosystems

, where

On the Existence and Uniqueness of the Scientific Method

\bar m

Monte Carlo simulation program for ecosystems

is the mean biomass per individual. The same condition yields a unique value for the biomass diversity functional. These predictions are tested against fishery data and found to be in good agreement. It is argued that the existence of a unique value for biomass diversity may provide a preliminary theoretical foundation for the observed upper limit to species diversity.

Public understanding in a science centre

In the derivation of the biomass distribution function for an ecological population critical use is made of an energetic constraint on the maximization of biomass diversity. The nature of this constraint is explored in detail using Kleibers relation σ(m) = cmγ between animal metabolic rate σ(m) and body weight m in conjunction with the Prigogine-Wiame thermodynamic paradigm for specific entropy production in biological stationary states. These two inputs fix the energetic constraint on the maximization of biomass diversity to be the constancy of the mean metabolic rate of the ecosystem. The resulting biomass distribution function is tested against observational data.