Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Maximum Entropy and Ecology PDF full book. Access full book title Maximum Entropy and Ecology by John Harte. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: John Harte Publisher: OUP Oxford ISBN: 0191621161 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
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.
Author: John Harte Publisher: OUP Oxford ISBN: 0191621161 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
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.
Author: John Harte Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199593418 Category : Mathematics Languages : en Pages : 274
Book Description
Provides readers with the concepts and practical tools required to understand the maximum entropy principle, and apply it to an understanding of ecological patterns. The theory developed predicts realistic forms for all metrics of ecology that describe patterns in the distribution, abundance, and energetics of species.
Author: John Harte Publisher: OUP Oxford ISBN: 0191621676 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
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.
Author: Samuel M. Scheiner Publisher: University of Chicago Press ISBN: 0226736865 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 416
Book Description
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.
Author: Sean Carroll Publisher: Penguin ISBN: 0593186591 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 305
Book Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Most appealing... technical accuracy and lightness of tone... Impeccable.”—Wall Street Journal “A porthole into another world.”—Scientific American “Brings science dissemination to a new level.”—Science The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for making complex notions entertaining, presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality. Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook. Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants, warped space-time, and bewilderingly powerful forces. High school calculus is itself a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa. And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables. No one else could so smoothly guide readers toward grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come.
Author: S.E. Jorgensen Publisher: Elsevier ISBN: 9780080441672 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 388
Book Description
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.
Author: Axel Kleidon Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 9783540224952 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
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.
Author: V.P. Singh Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 9401714312 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 382
Book Description
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.
Author: Ichiro Aoki Publisher: Elsevier ISBN: 012394404X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 123
Book Description
The concept of entropy in thermodynamics is a complex one, though it is fundamental in understanding physics, the workings of the mind, and biology. Entropy is the measure of the quality of energy, and it can also refer to the turn from order to disorder or randomness in isolated systems. In open systems, such as biology, entropy is formulated in terms of production and energy flow. This book establishes a novel view of complex biological systems and the earth using this concept of entropy, encompassing the interdisciplinary area of biology, ecology and physics. This book considers the development over time of a range of biologically complex systems such as plants, animals, humans, and ecosystems, describing them in terms of the second law of thermodynamics, entropy. With its broad coverage of biological systems, this book will be useful for students of environmental science as well as students in biology and physics. Includes discussion of multiple complex systems including the earth and biological systems within it. Suitable for those with little physics background who wish to learn how the laws of physics apply to ecological systems. Clearly organized by system, making information easy to access.
Author: John Harte
Author: John Harte
Author: John Harte
Author: John Harte
Author: Tom Leinster
Author: Samuel M. Scheiner
Author: Sean Carroll
Author: S.E. Jorgensen
Author: Axel Kleidon
Author: V.P. Singh
Author: Ichiro Aoki