Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Thermodynamics and evolution.

L Demetrius1

  • 1Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ldemetr@oeb.harvard.edu

Journal of Theoretical Biology
|September 2, 2000
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Mortality plateaus and directionality theory.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2001
Same author

Directionality theory and the evolution of body size.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2001
Same author

Game theory and evolution: finite size and absolute fitness measures.

Mathematical biosciences·2000
Same author

Role of enzyme-substrate flexibility in catalytic activity: an evolutionary perspective.

Journal of theoretical biology·1998
Same author

Selective neutrality and enzyme kinetics.

Journal of molecular evolution·1997
Same author

Directionality principles in thermodynamics and evolution.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·1997
Same journal

Evolution of quantitative traits: exploring the ecological, social and genetic bases of adaptive polymorphism.

Journal of theoretical biology·2026
Same journal

The male-biased sex ratio in humans and its role in the transition from promiscuity to pair bonding.

Journal of theoretical biology·2026
Same journal

Quantifying the counter-intuitive effects of vaccination by coupling the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 and the evolution of human behaviors.

Journal of theoretical biology·2026
Same journal

An integrative model of FGF2-induced signaling and muscle cell proliferation.

Journal of theoretical biology·2026
Same journal

A hybrid reaction-diffusion and mechanical stimulus model for mandibular bone remodeling under chewing and vibratory loading.

Journal of theoretical biology·2026
Same journal

Integrated tick management strategies in fragmented peridomestic environments.

Journal of theoretical biology·2026
See all related articles

Thermodynamics and evolution share a fundamental principle: entropy increases over time. Directionality theory extends this concept to living populations, linking evolutionary entropy to thermodynamic entropy.

Area of Science:

  • Cross-disciplinary science linking statistical thermodynamics and evolutionary biology.
  • Explores the fundamental principles governing both inanimate matter and living populations.

Background:

  • Thermodynamics describes irreversible processes with a unidirectional increase in thermodynamic entropy.
  • Evolutionary science studies populations regulated by generation time.
  • Directionality theory models evolution, proposing unidirectional increase in evolutionary entropy under bounded growth.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the mathematical basis of directionality theory.
  • To analyze the relationship between directionality theory and statistical thermodynamics.
  • To demonstrate that evolutionary entropy increase is a non-equilibrium extension of thermodynamic entropy increase.

Main Methods:

  • Mathematical review of directionality theory.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Analysis of the relationship between directionality theory and statistical thermodynamics.
  • Exploitation of an analytic relation between temperature and generation time.

    • Main Results:

    • Established an analytic relation between temperature and generation time.
    • Showed that the directionality principle for evolutionary entropy is a non-equilibrium extension of the thermodynamic entropy principle.
    • Found consistency with the hypothesis of equivalent fundamental laws across hierarchical levels (molecular to population).

    Conclusions:

    • The principles governing thermodynamic entropy and evolutionary entropy are analytically related.
    • Directionality theory provides a framework for understanding evolutionary processes analogous to thermodynamics.
    • Fundamental laws may be equivalent across different scales of organization in nature.