On biomass diversity in ecology

Abstract

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$p(m) = \bar m^{ - 1} \exp ( - m/\bar m)$, where$\bar m$ 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.