ABSTRACT
Ecosystems are open systems and receive free energy from solar radiation. As discussed in Chapter 6, the free energy is used ‰rst to cover the free energy needed for maintaining a system very far from thermodynamic equilibrium. If there is more free energy available than needed for the maintenance, the surplus free energy is used to move the system further away from thermodynamic equilibrium by use of the three growth forms. ere are, however, many possible pathways to move away from thermodynamic equilibrium, because ecosystems have many components and are linked in a complex ecological network. is implies that the three growth forms can be used by the ecosystem to move away from thermodynamic equilibrium in an almost astronomically high number of possibilities. So, which one of these numerous possibilities will be selected?
