Publications and presentations associated with the ATB project.

Publications:

This paper shows that microbial communities can exhibit strong internal dynamics that may be more important in shaping community succession than external drivers. Dynamic “unstable” communities may be important for ecosystem functional stability, with organisms of the rare biosphere playing an important role incommunity restructuring.
This review paper places Lotka's original ideas on ecosystem organization and function within the formalized MEP concept.
This manuscript reviews and compares the maximum entropy production principle to the maximum power princple.
This paper uses MEP to predict metabolic switching between denitrification, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) and anammox during anaerobic nitrate reduction.
This paper demonstrates the use of receding horizon optimal control to solve MEP-based problems and accurately simulates experimental data from Exp 1 of the ATB project, which are presented elsewhere on this web site (see ATB Exp 1).

This paper uses a model two-compartment system to examine how entropy production changes if maximized within each compartment (locally) versus across both compartments (globally).  Results indicate that maximizing entropy production globally is greater than the sum of entropy production obtained from local maximization.  These results indicate that systems that coordinate function over space can out compete those that function without cooperation in terms of energy dissipation.

This paper presents an MEP-based approach to modeling microbial biogeochemistry using an optimal control algorithm.  Since maximizing entropy production instantaneously will not lead to the synthesis of living biomass (i.e., biological structure), entropy production is maximized over intervals of time. By “investing” in the synthesis of biological catalyst, a system can ultimately generate more entropy over a finite time than a system that maximizes entropy production instantaneously, such as fire.

Presentations: