Energy Flows in Low-Entropy Complex Systems

Nature's many complex systems--physical, biological, and cultural--are islands of low-entropy order within increasingly disordered seas of surrounding, high-entropy chaos. Energy is a principal facilitator of the rising complexity of all such systems in the expanding Universe, including galaxies, stars, planets, life, society, and machines. A large amount of empirical evidence--relating neither entropy nor information, rather energy--suggests that an underlying simplicity guides the emergence and growth of complexity among many known, highly varied systems in the 14-billion-year-old Universe, from big bang to humankind. Energy flows are as centrally important to life and society as they are to stars and galaxies. In particular, the quantity energy rate density--the rate of energy flow per unit mass--can be used to explicate in a consistent, uniform, and unifying way a huge collection of diverse complex systems observed throughout Nature. Operationally, those systems able to utilize optimal amounts of energy tend to survive and those that cannot are non-randomly eliminated.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, review paper for special issue on Recent Advances in Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics and its Application. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1406.273

Factors Influencing Stem Density of Creekbank Spartina alterniflora in a New England Salt Marsh

Stem density patterns for smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, are highly variable both among years and within the growing season. These variations can have consequences for the overall primary productivity of the salt marsh system, as well as its ability to provide essential ecosystem functions. In this study, I explored factors that could be driving observed variations in four tidal creeks of the Plum Island Sound Estuary, Massachusetts. End of season stem densities were measured at two of the creeks over eight years. Seasonal stem densities were measured at all four of the creeks four times during a single growing season. My objectives were to assess the influence of temperature, precipitation, tide level, and solar radiation on stem density variations among years, and to determine whether seasonal loss of stems was due to self-thinning or tidal action. Years with higher precipitation were associated with higher densities (p = 0.001), which may be due to an alleviation of salt stress in those years. Patterns of seasonal stem loss were more consistent with patterns of self-thinning, which has not been previously considered for S. alterniflora, than tidal action, which has been the predominant assumption. However, self-thinning and tidal action may be working in conjunction to cause seasonal stem loss. These results increase our ability to estimate S. alterniflora productivity, and our understanding of the species’ ecology and its responses to current and future climatological events

Alien Registration- Chaisson, Mildred (Westbrook, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/20638/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Chaisson, Leda (Jackman, Somerset County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/6553/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Chaisson, Simon (Van Buren, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/33187/thumbnail.jp