Exergy represents the biogeochemical energy of an ecosystem and is significantly related to degree of organization of an ecosystem. Emergy, on the other hand is the total quantum of solar energy directly or indirectly required for generating a product or a service. They represent two complementary aspects of the ecosystem: the present state (organization) and the past work required to reach the present state. The ratio between exergy to emergy indicates the efficiency of an ecosystem and the sustenance of the ecosystem goods and services.
Dear Remi,
Sorry, possibly you couldn't perceived the thread of discussion. The physicochemical parameters are oft-used but not holistic indicators of ecosystem health. A better and complimentary idea is to apply exergy and emergy aspects of the ecosystem reflective of useful enerygy and quality energy what can be better indicators of ecosystem health and performance.
Exergy and emergy concepts have very recently successfully applied in ecosystem performance and health assessment by renowned scientists like SE Jorgensen, Fu-Lie Xu, M.T. Brown and others. We can cite the following in this context:
1.Application of ecological and thermodynamic indicators for the assessment of lake ecosystem health .........................F.-L. Xu (2005)
2.The joint use of exergy and emergy as indicators of ecosystems performances ............Bastianoni et al. (2005)
3. Emergy, transformity, and ecosystem health.......... Brown & Ulgiati
Inviting insightful, interesting and productive discussion supplemented with relevant papers.
Sincerely,
Jayanta
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