Ecological state equation

The direct equivalence between ecology and thermodynamics has not been attained despite accepted thermodynamic features of the ecosystem. This article explores the homeomorphism between ecology and statistical mechanics by analysis of ruderal vegetation. In conventional thermostatistical algorithm, the pro-kinetic effect of temperature on molecules was replaced by the anti-kinetic effect of species diversity on biological individuals. The existence of an ecological equivalent of the thermodynamic Boltzmann constant was empirically verified. From the relationship of this constant with biocenological variables, we derived a probable ecological equation of state under stationary and quasi-stationary conditions. This equation of state is homeomorphic with regard to the ideal gas state equation, and it is useful to infer the value of some biocenological parameters whose direct measurement is difficult, as biomass, energy and dispersal. According to these results, ecosystem assessment from conventional thermostatistics is plausible and empirically verifiable. This approach offers useful analytical tools for the conservation and restoration of ecosystems.

► Equivalence between stationarity in open systems and equilibrium in closed systems.
► Calculation of a species dispersal ergodic indicator inversely correlated with diversity in the ecosystems surveyed.
► Anti-kinetic effect of diversity and replacing of temperature by diversity as the main state variable.
► Empirical estimation of an ecological Boltzmann constant.
► Equation of state for stationary and quasi-stationary ecosystems.