Quantifying the Interdependence between Material and Energy Flows in Ecosystems

Abstract

Multicommodity analysis is critical to understanding the structure and function of ecosystems since they can be viewed as production systems involved in capturing solar energy and using it to produce a wide variety of organized structures. Three related linear programming techniques are developed and used to analyze two sets of input-output data: 1) the Silver Springs system illustrating the effect of the production of one joint product, and 2) a Louisiana cypress-tupelo swamp system illustrating the effect of the production of multiple joint products. The results of these three methods are discussed in relation to the assumptions of each and the light each sheds on the quantification of interdependence between material and energy flows in ecosystems in the presence of joint products. The Joint Products input-output model, which allocates embodied energy inputs to outputs of a process on the basis of the relative scarcities of the individual outputs, appears to be the most effective method for analyzing systems that produce multiple joint products.