| Issue |
EPL
Volume 151, Number 1, July 2025
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 12002 | |
| Number of page(s) | 7 | |
| Section | Mathematical and interdisciplinary physics | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/ade9ec | |
| Published online | 18 July 2025 | |
Recent developments and future perspectives in statistical mechanics of ecological systems
1 Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy “G. Galilei”, University of Padova Padova, Italy
2 National Biodiversity Future Center - Piazza Marina 61, 90133 Palermo, Italy
3 Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova - Padova, Italy
4 INFN, Sezione di Padova - via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
Received: 17 November 2024
Accepted: 30 June 2025
Statistical mechanics provides insights into linking microscopic details with macroscopic behavior, and this approach has extended to ecology with powerful results. In this perspective we review recent progress in the statistical mechanics pertaining to ecosystems, focusing on research directions which have the potential to uncover new important features of ecological communities across scales. These include the understanding of Damuth's and Kleiber's scaling laws, which suggest deep connections between body size, metabolism and population dynamics. Also, recent developments in microbial ecology are shifting attention towards functional dynamics, emphasizing gene function instead of species identity, which contributes to maintaining community stability amid taxonomic diversity. Finally, we argue that the interaction of ecological and evolutionary scales can enrich our understanding of biodiversity, resilience, and adaptability, linking community dynamics with evolutionary processes in an integrated ecological framework.
© 2025 The author(s)
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