Biocybernetic and thermodynamic perspectives of landscape functions and land use patterns

This paper develops and applies two concepts which are fundamental to landscape ecology. These concepts concern biocybernetics, which is the theory of regulation of biological and ecological systems, and thermodynamics, especially the flux of energy and the production of entropy. The landscape state factors, including site conditions and fluxes of energy, materials, and organisms, are shaped by the biocybernetic and thermodynamic processes. This theory provides us a way of understanding and discussing complex human interactions with landscape systems, expressing our concept of the whole landscape system (what I have termed the Total Human Ecosystem), and linking landscape ecology with several of the most powerfully creative ideas in modern science.