Abstract
Background
Applications of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics in landscape ecology are rare and poorly developed. This is a fundamental limitation given the centrally important role the second law plays in all physical and biological processes. A critical first step to exploring the utility of thermodynamics in landscape ecology is to define the configurational entropy of a landscape mosaic. In this paper I attempt to link landscape ecology to the second law of thermodynamics and the entropy concept by showing how the configurational entropy of a landscape mosaic may be calculated.
Result
I begin by drawing parallels between the configuration of a categorical landscape mosaic and the mixing of ideal gases. I propose that the idea of the thermodynamic microstate can be expressed as unique configurations of a landscape mosaic, and posit that the landscape metric Total Edge length is an effective measure of configuration for purposes of calculating configurational entropy.
Conclusions
I propose that the entropy of a given landscape configuration can be calculated using the Boltzmann equation. Specifically, the configurational entropy can be defined as the logarithm of the number of ways a landscape of a given dimensionality, number of classes and proportionality can be arranged (microstates) that produce the observed amount of total edge (macrostate).
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Acknowledgments
I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the five anonymous reviewers who invested their valuable time in reviewing this manuscript. Their comments and suggestions were greatly informative and helpful in improving the manuscript. I would also like to thank the EIC for his thoughtful consideration and interest in this topic.
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Cushman, S.A. Calculating the configurational entropy of a landscape mosaic. Landscape Ecol 31, 481–489 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0305-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-015-0305-2