Internal energy ratios as ecological indicators for description of the phytoremediation process on a manganese tailing site

Wu, Zijian; Wu, Xiaofu; Yang, Zhihui; Ouyang, Linnan

doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2018.02.009

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Likewise, we have shown how this analysis can be extended to interpret relevant evolutionary ecological timeframes of life on earth in a semi-quantitative manner, even in the absence of accurate experimental data. These results agree with current experimental observations (González et al, 2016; Holdaway et al, 2010; Schneider et al,1994; Wu et al, 2017; Wu et al, 2018) and with our intuitive understanding of the organisation and evolution of life systems on earth (Jorgensen, 2007; Kleidon, 2009; Prigogine & Nicolis, 1971) and lead us to propose that self-replicative life systems are evolutionary and spatially organised in hierarchical thermodynamic levels of incremental work usage inputted from the external driving field (figure 7). In this context for a SR system to be able to overcome its upper bound complexity threshold set by ESL it must then be able to access higher levels of usable work/energy from the universe, as defined by the minimum boundaries set by ESL for irreversible SR systems (figure 1 and 3).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

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A hierarchical thermodynamic imperative drives the evolution of self-replicative life systems towards increased complexity

Menéndez

2021

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From a basic thermodynamic point of view life structures can be viewed as dissipative open systems capable of self replication. Energy flowing from the external environment into the system allows growth of its self replicative entities with a concomitant decrease in internal entropy (complexity) and an increase of the overall entropy in the universe, thus observing the second law of thermodynamics. However, efforts to derive general thermodynamic models of life systems have been hampered by the lack of precise equations for far from equilibrium systems subjected to arbitrarily time varying external driving fields (the external energy input), as these systems operate in a non-linear response regime that is difficult to model using classical thermodynamics. Recent theoretical advances, applying time reversal symmetry and coarse grained state transitions, have provided helpful semi-quantitative insights into the thermodynamic constraints that bind the behaviour of far from equilibrium life systems. Setting some additional fundamental constraints based on empirical observations allows us to apply this theoretical framework to gain a further semi-quantitative insight on the thermodynamic boundaries and evolution of self replicative life systems. This analysis suggests that complex self replicative life systems follow a thermodynamic hierarchical organisation based on increasing accessible levels of usable energy (work), which in turn drive an exponential punctuated growth of the system's complexity, stored as internal energy and internal entropy. This growth has historically not been limited by the total energy available from the external driving field for the earth life system, but by the internal system's adaptability needed to access higher levels of usable energy. Therefore, in the absence of external perturbations, the emergence of an initial self replicative dissipative structure capable of variation that enables access to higher energy levels is sufficient to drive the system's growth perpetually towards increased complexity across time and space. Furthermore, the self-replicative system would adopt a hierarchical organisation with all permitted energy niches evolving to be optimally occupied in order to dissipate the work input from the external drive and further adapting as higher energy levels are accessed. This model is consistent with current empirical observation of life systems across both time and space and explains from a thermodynamic point of view the evolutionary patterns of complex life systems on earth. We propose that predictions from this model can be further corroborated in a variety of artificially closed systems and that they are supported by experimental observations of complex ecological systems across the thermodynamic hierarchy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…In a separate study a manganese mine contaminated wasteland that had undergone extensive plant biomass and species number depletion as compared to equivalent uncontaminated land was studied (Wu et al, 2017, Wu et al, 2018). Land at this contaminated wasteland showed high metal concentrations and low nitrogen and phosphorus levels.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A hierarchical thermodynamic imperative drives the evolution of self-replicative life systems towards increased complexity

Menéndez

2021

Preprint

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“…bipinnata in plot I. The total metal uptake quantities for all measured metals were very low in Plot III (Wu et al, 2018) and the correlation between its biomass quantity and metal uptake was insignificant (R 2 < 0.20), indicating that metal toxicity was not the factor limiting the plant growth. The species number N in Plot III remained unchanged in years 2015 and 2016 and the difference in C T between these two years was insignificant ( Table 1), showing that the plant community had reached a relatively steady state.…”

Section: Dynamic Changes In the Restoration Processmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Positive correlations between biomass and uptake of all measured metal elements among species were observed in both Plots I and II at high levels of significance (R 2 > 0.95) (Wu et al, 2018), indicating that the accelerated growth of the plant community enhanced its metal uptake rates. Accordingly, the significant contribution of the transplanted species to total metal uptake was accounted for by their high growth rates.…”

Section: Contribution Of Plant Speciesmentioning

confidence: 93%

Thermodynamic analysis of an ecologically restored plant community：Process and diversity

Wu²,

Chen

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The experimental data used for testing the applicability of the thermodynamic equations presented in the theoretical section were obtained from an ecological restoration project implemented at a manganese tailing site. Restoration of the plant community was shown to be an irreversible process characterized by spontaneous increases in its total biomass CT and total number of plant species N associated with increases in its enthalpy H, Gibbs free energy G and entropy S. Species enrichment was the cause for the decease in mass ratio xi (biomass of a species Ci divided by CT) and biomass growth potential μi (the partial derivative of Gi with respect to Ci). The increase in s/CT (s denoting the ratio of S to gas constant R) associated with decrease in f/CT (f denoting the ratio of G to RT) with increasing N confirmed that the restored plant community possessed natural trends towards increase in its species richness and evenness. The observed trends gave support to use of the thermodynamic functions for describing the productivity-biodiversity relationship. The present analysis did not fully prove the use of the Shannon form of information entropy as a biodiversity index for the investigated plant communities. Because of the presence of significant differences in individuals among species, the biodiversity of the plant community could not be uniquely determined by its individual numbers. In comparison, the entropy factor s was shown to be a suitable biodiversity index. The fact that N is the key factor that determines the changes in s/CT and f/CT makes N >0ausef ulindexf ordeterminingthedirectionof spontaneouschangesf orallopensystemswithcontinuousinputof matterandenergy.Asameasureo

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Thermodynamic analysis of an ecologically restored plant community:Number of species

Chen

Wu²,

et al. 2021

Ecological Modelling

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Internal energy ratios as ecological indicators for description of the phytoremediation process on a manganese tailing site

Cited by 5 publications

References 37 publications

A hierarchical thermodynamic imperative drives the evolution of self-replicative life systems towards increased complexity

A hierarchical thermodynamic imperative drives the evolution of self-replicative life systems towards increased complexity

Thermodynamic analysis of an ecologically restored plant community：Process and diversity

Thermodynamic analysis of an ecologically restored plant community:Number of species

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