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In a new textbook, SFI External Professor John Harte explains how information theory may be applied to modeling ecosystems. In the process, he develops a new theory of ecology.

Maximum Entropy and Ecology eschews mechanistic modeling methods in favor of a model based on the maximum entropy principle from physics. With a mathematical framework as its basis, Harte’s ecological theory is predictive in describing the abundance, distribution, and energetics of many species over a range of habitats.

More about the book from Oxford University Press