Does energy dissipation increase with ecosystem succession? Testing the ecosystem exergy theory combining theoretical simulations and thermal remote sensing observations

W.H. Maes, T. Pashuysen, A. Trabucco, F. Veroustraete and B. Muys

Ecological Modelling, 2011, vol. 222, issue 23, 3917-3941

Abstract: The ecosystem exergy theory is an ecosystem succession theory based on thermodynamics and hypothesizes that energy dissipation increases with ecosystem maturity. It was developed along with a number of specially designed dissipation indicators, derived from thermal remote sensing. The theory provides an interesting method for the rapid evaluation of the degree of naturalness and/or the maturity of an ecosystem, e.g. in land use impact assessment studies. However, lack of proof of the validity of the ecosystem exergy theory has limited its application. In addition, it remains unsolved whether the dissipation indicators are influenced by meteorological conditions, how they are related with each other and which dissipation indicator has the largest discriminative power.

Keywords: S-SEBI; Surface temperature; Solar exergy dissipation; Thermal response number; Succession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:222:y:2011:i:23:p:3917-3941

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.08.028

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