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Maximum-entropy principle: ecological organization and evolution

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Abstract

In the present paper, we have first studied the role of the maximum-entropy principle to explain the concept of organization of a physical system in the decreasing law of entropy with the increase of external constraints imposed on the system. We have then considered an open ecosystem (living) and determined a quantitative measure of ecological organization from the consideration of the thermodynamics of irreversible processes. Finally, we have tried to explain the evolution of the ecosystem in the light of Prigogine’s principle of “order through fluctuation.”

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the learned referees whose valuable comments helped the better exposition of the paper. The work was done under a UPE Project of Calcutta University. The second author (K. Ghosh) wishes to thank UGC (India) for granting a fellowship under the scheme of RFSMS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, 700009, India

    C. G. Chakrabarti & Koyel Ghosh

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  1. C. G. Chakrabarti
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  2. Koyel Ghosh
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Correspondence to Koyel Ghosh.

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Chakrabarti, C.G., Ghosh, K. Maximum-entropy principle: ecological organization and evolution. J Biol Phys 36, 175–183 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10867-009-9170-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10867-009-9170-z

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