Competition and the canonical ensemble.
Gibbs' canonical ensemble model from equilibrium statistical mechanics furnishes solutions to Eigen's phenomenological rate equations under constant total organization in cases with or without mutability. The evolution of species with mutation under constant total organization reduces to the evolution of substantial virtual species without mutation under the same constant total organization. Application of the canonical ensemble model provides an exact correspondence between thermodynamic and biological parameters. In particular, evolutionary time, as the analog of temperature, emerges as a statistical aggregate of the condition of the evolving system.
Smith
J D
JD
Department of Mathematics, Iowa State University, Ames 50011, USA.
D005075:Biological Evolution; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D013816:Thermodynamics