Download or read book Maximum Entropy and Ecology written by John Harte and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2011-06-23 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pioneering graduate textbook provides readers with the concepts and practical tools required to understand the maximum entropy principle, and apply it to an understanding of ecological patterns. Rather than building and combining mechanistic models of ecosystems, the approach is grounded in information theory and the logic of inference. Paralleling the derivation of thermodynamics from the maximum entropy principle, the state variable theory of ecology developed in this book predicts realistic forms for all metrics of ecology that describe patterns in the distribution, abundance, and energetics of species over multiple spatial scales, a wide range of habitats, and diverse taxonomic groups. The first part of the book is foundational, discussing the nature of theory, the relationship of ecology to other sciences, and the concept of the logic of inference. Subsequent sections present the fundamentals of macroecology and of maximum information entropy, starting from first principles. The core of the book integrates these fundamental principles, leading to the derivation and testing of the predictions of the maximum entropy theory of ecology (METE). A final section broadens the book's perspective by showing how METE can help clarify several major issues in conservation biology, placing it in context with other theories and highlighting avenues for future research.
Download or read book Maximum Entropy and Ecology written by John Harte and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2011-06-23 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pioneering graduate textbook provides readers with the concepts and practical tools required to understand the maximum entropy principle, and apply it to an understanding of ecological patterns. Rather than building and combining mechanistic models of ecosystems, the approach is grounded in information theory and the logic of inference. Paralleling the derivation of thermodynamics from the maximum entropy principle, the state variable theory of ecology developed in this book predicts realistic forms for all metrics of ecology that describe patterns in the distribution, abundance, and energetics of species over multiple spatial scales, a wide range of habitats, and diverse taxonomic groups. The first part of the book is foundational, discussing the nature of theory, the relationship of ecology to other sciences, and the concept of the logic of inference. Subsequent sections present the fundamentals of macroecology and of maximum information entropy, starting from first principles. The core of the book integrates these fundamental principles, leading to the derivation and testing of the predictions of the maximum entropy theory of ecology (METE). A final section broadens the book's perspective by showing how METE can help clarify several major issues in conservation biology, placing it in context with other theories and highlighting avenues for future research.
Download or read book Entropy and Diversity written by Tom Leinster and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-22 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the mathematical riches of 'what is diversity?' in a book that adds mathematical rigour to a vital ecological debate.
Download or read book Towards a Thermodynamic Theory for Ecological Systems written by S.E. Jorgensen and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2004-07-06 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book presents a consistent and complete ecosystem theory based on thermodynamic concepts. The first chapters are devoted to an interpretation of the first and second law of thermodynamics in ecosystem context. Then Prigogine's use of far from equilibrium thermodynamic is used on ecosystems to explain their reactions to perturbations. The introduction of the concept exergy makes it possible to give a more profound and comprehensive explanation of the ecosystem's reactions and growth-patterns. A tentative fourth law of thermodynamic is formulated and applied to facilitate these explanations. The trophic chain, the global energy and radiation balance and pattern and the reactions of ecological networks are all explained by the use of exergy. Finally, it is discussed how the presented theory can be applied more widely to explain ecological observations and rules, to assess ecosystem health and to develop ecological models.
Download or read book The Theory of Ecology written by Samuel M. Scheiner and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-07-15 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite claims to the contrary, the science of ecology has a long history of building theories. Many ecological theories are mathematical, computational, or statistical, though, and rarely have attempts been made to organize or extrapolate these models into broader theories. The Theory of Ecology brings together some of the most respected and creative theoretical ecologists of this era to advance a comprehensive, conceptual articulation of ecological theories. The contributors cover a wide range of topics, from ecological niche theory to population dynamic theory to island biogeography theory. Collectively, the chapters ably demonstrate how theory in ecology accounts for observations about the natural world and how models provide predictive understandings. It organizes these models into constitutive domains that highlight the strengths and weaknesses of ecological understanding. This book is a milestone in ecological theory and is certain to motivate future empirical and theoretical work in one of the most exciting and active domains of the life sciences.
Download or read book Non equilibrium Thermodynamics and the Production of Entropy written by Axel Kleidon and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2004-11-18 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The present volume studies the application of concepts from non-equilibrium thermodynamics to a variety of research topics. Emphasis is on the Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) principle and applications to Geosphere-Biosphere couplings. Written by leading researchers from a wide range of backgrounds, the book presents a first coherent account of an emerging field at the interface of thermodynamics, geophysics and life sciences.
Download or read book Maximum Entropy Production in Ecological and Environmental Systems written by Royal Society (Grande-Bretagne) and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ecological Modelling and Ecophysics written by Hugo Fort and published by . This book was released on 2024-04-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on use-inspired basic science by connecting theoretical methods and mathematical developments in ecology with practical real-world problems, either in production or conservation.
Download or read book Into the Cool written by Eric D. Schneider and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2005-06 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors look to the laws of thermodynamics for answers to the questions of evolution, ecology, economics, and even life's origin.
Download or read book Entropy Based Parameter Estimation in Hydrology written by V.P. Singh and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the pioneering work of Shannon in the late 1940's on the development of the theory of entropy and the landmark contributions of Jaynes a decade later leading to the development of the principle of maximum entropy (POME), the concept of entropy has been increasingly applied in a wide spectrum of areas, including chemistry, electronics and communications engineering, data acquisition and storage and retreival, data monitoring network design, ecology, economics, environmental engineering, earth sciences, fluid mechanics, genetics, geology, geomorphology, geophysics, geotechnical engineering, hydraulics, hydrology, image processing, management sciences, operations research, pattern recognition and identification, photogrammetry, psychology, physics and quantum mechanics, reliability analysis, reservoir engineering, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, topology, transportation engineering, turbulence modeling, and so on. New areas finding application of entropy have since continued to unfold. The entropy concept is indeed versatile and its applicability widespread. In the area of hydrology and water resources, a range of applications of entropy have been reported during the past three decades or so. This book focuses on parameter estimation using entropy for a number of distributions frequently used in hydrology. In the entropy-based parameter estimation the distribution parameters are expressed in terms of the given information, called constraints. Thus, the method lends itself to a physical interpretation of the parameters. Because the information to be specified usually constitutes sufficient statistics for the distribution under consideration, the entropy method provides a quantitative way to express the information contained in the distribution.
Download or read book Forecasting with Maximum Entropy Hb written by FORT and published by IOP ebooks. This book was released on 2022-11-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book aims at providing a unifying framework, based on Information Entropy and its maximization, to connect the phenomenology of evolutionary biology, community ecology, financial economics, and statistical physics. This more comprehensive view, besides providing further insight into problems, enables problem-solving strategies by applying proven methods in one discipline to formally similar problems in other areas. The book also proposes a forecasting method for important practical problems in these disciplines and is directed to researchers, students and practitioners working on modelling the dynamics of complex systems. The common thread is how the flux of information both controls and serves to predict the dynamics of complex systems. It is shown how maximizing the Shannon information entropy allows one to infer a central object controlling the dynamics of complex systems, such as ecosystems or markets. The resulting models, which are known as pairwise maximum-entropy models, can be used to infer interactions from data in a wide variety of systems. Here, two examples are analysed in detail. The first is an application to conservation ecology, namely the issue of providing early warning indicators of population crashes of species of trees in tropical forests. The second is about forecasting the market values of firms through evolutionary economics. An interesting lesson is that PME modelling often produces accurate predictions despite not incorporating explicit interaction mechanisms. Key features Written to be suitable for a broad spectrum of readers and assumes little mathematical specialism. Includes pedagogical features: Worked examples, case studies and summaries. The interdisciplinary approach builds bridges between disciplines. Oriented to solve practical problems. Includes a combination of analytical derivations and numerical simulations with experiments
Download or read book Maximum Entropy for Resource Allocation written by Yu Zhang and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past few decades, ecology has gone through exciting breakthroughs in developing and applying quantitative methods to more accurately describe and predict patterns and dynamics. However, a theoretical framework under which models could be built and results interpreted in one language is still missing, impeding the communication and collaboration among subfields of ecology. To serve the ultimate goal of developing such a framework, in this dissertation, a theory is developed to make unified predictions of several facets of ecology that have so far been addressed mostly in independent ways: starting from a simple scenario of resource allocation, the theory simultaneously predicts species coexistence, community-level energy distribution, population demographic growth function, evolutionary tradeoffs and life history strategies. The approach of maximizing information entropy (MaxEnt) is used to make sure that the theory makes the most objective predictions from the fewest ad hoc assumptions. Previous applications of MaxEnt in ecology are reviewed in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, the fundamental framework and a first model of the theory is introduced. Based on the same framework, several different approaches to expand model predictions are explored in Chapters 3 and 4. As is discussed in Chapters 2-4, the assumptions and parameters of the theory can be related to many important concepts in ecology (e.g. fitness equality, stabilizing effect, niche and neutrality), and the predictions reveal many previously unidentified links between patterns and processes at the population and community level to metabolism and functional traits. Combining all above, the work in this dissertation is potentially a first step towards a unified theoretical framework of ecology.
Download or read book Habitat Suitability and Distribution Models written by Antoine Guisan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-09-14 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces the key stages of niche-based habitat suitability model building, evaluation and prediction required for understanding and predicting future patterns of species and biodiversity. Beginning with the main theory behind ecological niches and species distributions, the book proceeds through all major steps of model building, from conceptualization and model training to model evaluation and spatio-temporal predictions. Extensive examples using R support graduate students and researchers in quantifying ecological niches and predicting species distributions with their own data, and help to address key environmental and conservation problems. Reflecting this highly active field of research, the book incorporates the latest developments from informatics and statistics, as well as using data from remote sources such as satellite imagery. A website at www.unil.ch/hsdm contains the codes and supporting material required to run the examples and teach courses.
Download or read book Perspectives in Ecological Theory written by Ramón Margalef and published by . This book was released on 1968 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ecosystem as a cybernetic system. Ecological succession and exploitation by man. The study of pelagic ecosystems. Evolution in the frame of ecosystem organization.
Download or read book Ecological Niches and Geographic Distributions MPB 49 written by A. Townsend Peterson and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-20 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Terminology, conceptual overview, biogeography, modeling.
Download or read book The Theory of Ecological Communities MPB 57 written by Mark Vellend and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A plethora of different theories, models, and concepts make up the field of community ecology. Amid this vast body of work, is it possible to build one general theory of ecological communities? What other scientific areas might serve as a guiding framework? As it turns out, the core focus of community ecology—understanding patterns of diversity and composition of biological variants across space and time—is shared by evolutionary biology and its very coherent conceptual framework, population genetics theory. The Theory of Ecological Communities takes this as a starting point to pull together community ecology's various perspectives into a more unified whole. Mark Vellend builds a theory of ecological communities based on four overarching processes: selection among species, drift, dispersal, and speciation. These are analogues of the four central processes in population genetics theory—selection within species, drift, gene flow, and mutation—and together they subsume almost all of the many dozens of more specific models built to describe the dynamics of communities of interacting species. The result is a theory that allows the effects of many low-level processes, such as competition, facilitation, predation, disturbance, stress, succession, colonization, and local extinction to be understood as the underpinnings of high-level processes with widely applicable consequences for ecological communities. Reframing the numerous existing ideas in community ecology, The Theory of Ecological Communities provides a new way for thinking about biological composition and diversity.
Download or read book Size Function and Life History written by William A. Calder and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zoologist provides a quantitative baseline for comparative zoology and demonstrates the value of allometric correlations as an analytical tool. New Introduction. References.
