Thermodynamics is a powerful tool for the study of system development and has potentials to be applied in ecological complexity studies. In this research, we developed a set of thermodynamic indicators including exergy capture ability and exergy dissipation ability to estimate plant community self-organization. The chosen study plots were tropical seasonal rain forest, artificial tropical rain forest, rubber plantation, 13 years old and 1 year old Chromolaena odorata communities, which represent primary vegetation, transitional community, economic plantation, and fallows. They are typical communities in Xishuangbanna, southwestern of China. Results show that the indicators are sensitive and integrative to the plant community self-organization. Tropical seasonal rain forest is well self-organized that plays an important role in the local environment stability. However, rubber plantation is at a very low level of self-organization, especially during the dry season. The expansion of the area of rubber plantation and shrinkage of tropical seasonal rain forest would induce local warming and larger daily temperature difference. Thermodynamic analysis is a comprehensive way to study complex ecosystem.
Keywords: self-organization, plant community, thermodynamics, tropical seasonal rain forest, artificial tropical rain forest, rubber plantation, Chromolaena odorata community
Corresponding author:Min Cao, at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 88 Xuefu Road, Kunming 650223, People's Republic of China.
Tel.: + 86-871-5160998; Fax: + 86-871-5160916. E-mail: caom@xtbg.ac.cn