ABSTRACT
Classical thermodynamics focuses on transformations from one form of energy to another, relatively close to thermodynamic equilibrium. Several state variables are introduced to enable the user of thermodynamics to make calculations of energy transformations and to determine which physical and chemical reactions can be realised under which conditions. Classical thermodynamics cannot be applied on systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium as for instance ecological systems. A development of classical thermodynamics to far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics has been initiated by Onsager (1931) and Prigogine (1947). The latter has introduced the term ‘dissipative structure’ to describe far-from-thermodynamic-equilibrium systems, but a wider theoretical application o f thermodynamics in ecosystem theory was not initiated until the late seventies.
