Complementarity of ecological goal functions.
This paper summarizes, in the framework of network environ analysis, a set of analyses of energy-matter flow and storage in steady-state systems. The network perspective is used to codify and unify ten ecological orientors or extremal principles: maximum power (Lotka), maximum storage (Jørgensen-Mejer), maximum empower and emergy (Odum), maximum ascendency (Ulanowicz), maximum dissipation (Schneider-Kay), maximum cycling (Morowitz), maximum residence time (Cheslak-Lamarra), minimum specific dissipation (Onsager, Prigogine), and minimum empower to exergy ratio (Bastianoni-Marchettini). We show that, seen in this framework, these seemingly disparate extrema are all mutually consistent, suggesting a common pattern for ecosystem development. This pattern unfolds in the network organization of systems.
Fath
B D
BD
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Sustainable Technology Division, Sustainable Environments Branch, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA. fath.brian@epamail.epa.gov
Patten
B C
BC
Choi
J S
JS
D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D008954:Models, Biological; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer