Statistical mechanics in ecological hierarchies

Statistical mechanics unifies different ecological patterns.

Recently there has been growing interest in the use of maximum relative entropy (MaxREnt) as a tool for statistical inference in ecology. In contrast, here we propose MaxREnt as a tool for applying statistical mechanics to ecology. We use MaxREnt to explain and predict species abundance patterns in ecological communities in terms of the most probable behaviour under given environmental constrai...

Statistical Mechanics of Ecological Systems: Neutral Theory and Beyond

Sandro Azaele1,∗, Samir Suweis2,∗, Jacopo Grilli, Igor Volkov, Jayanth R. Banavar, Amos Maritan 1 Department of Applied Mathematics, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom. 2 Dipartimento di Fisica ‘G. Galilei’ & CNISM, INFN, Università di Padova, Via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy. 3 Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th S...

Justification in Statistical Mechanics

According to a standard view of the second law of thermodynamics, our belief in the second law can be justified by pointing out that low entropy macrostates are less probable than high entropy macrostates, and then noting that a system in an improbable state will tend to evolve toward a more probable state. I would like to argue that this justification of the second law of thermodynamics is fun...

Statistical Mechanics

Interventionism in Statistical Mechanics

I defend the idea that the fact that no system is entirely isolated (“Interventionism”) can be used to explain the successful use of the microcanonical distribution in statistical mechanics. The argument turns on claims about what is needed for an adequate explanation of this fact: I argue in particular that various competing explanations do not meet reasonable conditions of adequacy, and that ...