Abstract
Entropy production (σ) is a measure of ecosystem and landscape stability in a changing environment. We calculated the σ in the radiation balance for a well-drained spruce forest, a paludified spruce forest, and a bog in the southern taiga of the European part of Russia using long-term meteorological data. Though radiative σ depends both on surface temperature and absorbed radiation, the radiation effect in boreal ecosystems is much more important than the temperature effect. The dynamic of the incoming solar radiation was the main driver of the diurnal, seasonal, and intra-annual courses of σ for all ecosystems; the difference in ecosystem albedo was the second most important factor, responsible for seven-eighths of the difference in σ between the bog and forest in a warm period. Despite the higher productivity and the complex structure of the well-drained forest, the dynamics and sums of σ in two forests were very similar. Summer droughts had no influence on the albedo and σ efficiency of forests, demonstrating high self-regulation of the taiga forest ecosystems. On the contrary, a decreasing water supply significantly elevated the albedo and lowered the σ in bog. Bogs, being non-steady ecosystems, demonstrate unique thermodynamic behavior, which is fluctuant and strongly dependent on the moisture supply. Paludification of territories may result in increasing instability of the energy balance and entropy production in the landscape of the southern taiga.
Highlights
Self-organizing open systems, which create “order out of chaos”, must discharge entropy outside, supporting their low-entropy inner structure
The empirical maximum entropy production (EMEP) in short-wave balance σQs,max reflects the highest possible amount of entropy that the terrestrial surface could produce if it absorbed all of the real incoming radiation, but its temperature did not increase to produce H, i.e., in calculations of empirical maximum of entropy production (EMEP) short-wave radiation, QS,net is assumed to be equal to QS,in and Tsurf is replaced by Tair : σQS,max = Qs,in
The bog station was in operation only during spring-autumn periods of 1998–2000, so we had only 27 days of radiation data while the bog was covered with snow
Summary
Self-organizing open systems, which create “order out of chaos”, must discharge entropy outside, supporting their low-entropy inner structure. Recent investigations found that energy dissipation (closely related to entropy production) in ecosystems depends on the type of plant community [11,12,13,14], canopy architecture [15], weather conditions, seasonality [11,13,16,17], level of disturbance [18,19,20], and stage of succession [14,20,21] In most of these studies, eco-climatic all-year measurements for the study of biosphere-atmosphere exchange were used; they provide various and detailed data for the evaluation of thermodynamic entropy fluxes in an ecosystem [22]. We reveal how drought conditions affect entropy production in the studied ecosystems and provide an analysis of the parameters affecting the ecosystem entropy production and the efficiency of ecosystem entropy production along the ecosystem moistening gradient in the southern taiga
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