Abstract
Entropy is a fundamental concept in thermodynamics that is important in many fields, including image processing, neurobiology, urban planning, and sustainability. As of recently, the application of Boltzmann entropy for landscape patterns was mostly limited to the conceptual discussion. However, in the last several years, a number of methods for calculating Boltzmann entropy for landscape mosaics and gradients were proposed. We developed an R package belg as an open source tool for calculating Boltzmann entropy of landscape gradients. The package contains functions to calculate relative and absolute Boltzmann entropy using the hierarchy-based and the aggregation-based methods. It also supports input raster with missing (NA) values, allowing for calculations on real data. In this study, we explain ideas behind implemented methods, describe the core functionality of the software, and present three examples of its use. The examples show the basic functions in this package, how to adjust Boltzmann entropy values for data with missing values, and how to use the belg package in larger workflows. We expect that the belg package will be a useful tool in the discussion of using entropy for a description of landscape patterns and facilitate a thermodynamic understanding of landscape dynamics.
Highlights
Entropy is a core concept in thermodynamics, which is a branch of physics, and explains “almost all known physical processes in the universe” [1]
This concept was first described by the German physicist Rudolf Clausius in the 1850s to discuss the change of unavailable energy during a spontaneous process [2] modeled by the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann [3] using the famous Boltzmann equation
We introduced the belg R package for computing Boltzmann entropy of landscape gradients
Summary
Entropy is a core concept in thermodynamics, which is a branch of physics, and explains “almost all known physical processes in the universe” [1]. This concept (widely referred to as thermodynamic entropy) was first described by the German physicist Rudolf Clausius in the 1850s to discuss the change of unavailable energy during a spontaneous process [2] modeled by the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann [3] using the famous Boltzmann equation ( the term Boltzmann entropy). Boltzmann entropy provides a statistical method to quantify unavailable energy based on the number of microstates in the macrostate of a thermodynamic system
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
