Applications of thermodynamic principles to ecology have a relatively long and varied
history. These applications may rest on the concepts of non-equilibrium
thermodynamics developed by Prigogine and others or even on a basic analogy
between thermodynamic and ecological systems. We evaluate the potential of
thermodynamic entropy minimization as an organizing principle in the ecohydrology of
water-limited ecosystems. In particular, an entropy budget is derived and
related to plant water stress for the idealized case of a single plant. Water use
strategies of individual plants are then discussed in relation to entropy generation
subject to a stochastic soil moisture process, including dependence on
parameters such as rooting depth and maximum evaporation. Possible implications of
the entropy model for temporal and spatial patterns of vegetation occurrence are then
examined.
