Energy and Evolution: The Systems Approach
This is a presentation for the International Society of Systems Sciences that summaries a book project that Charles Hall and Timothy McWhirter are working on presently.
Category: C. A. S. Hall
Maximum Power: The Ideas and Applications of H. T. Odum
This book was edited by Charles A. S. Hall and published in 1995. It is a synthesis of the creative genius of Howard Thomas Odum as seen through his own words and those of his students, many of whom are now applying his ideas to the world in diverse ways. Offering the holistic, system-oriented thinking…
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Equal fitness paradigm explained by a trade-off between generation time and energy production rate
This paper was written by James Brown, Charles A. S. Hall, and Richard Sibly and published in 2018. This is one of the first papers that describes the equal fitness paradigm (EFP), which explains how energy is used by organisms in accordance with biological scaling relations to produce surviving offspring. The authors provide evidence that…
Maximum power in evolution, ecology, and economics
This paper was written by Charles A. S. Hall and Timothy McWhirter and published in 2023. It provides a review of the development and use of the maximum power principle in evolutionary theory, ecology, and economics. It includes a discussion of how Alfred Lotka and H. T. Odum both described the maximum power principle applying…
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Life, Death and Energy: What Does Nature Select?
This paper was written by James H. Brown, Chen Hou, Charles A. S. Hall, and Joseph R. Burger and published in 2024. In this paper, the authors describe a new paradigm in evolutionary studies: the Equal Fitness Paradigm, which “quantifies how organisms convert biomass into surviving offspring.” The abstract of the paper states: “Evolutionary biology…
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Energy and Resource Quality: The Ecology of the Economic Process
This book was written by Charles A. S. Hall (pictured), Cutler J. Cleveland, and Robert Kaufmann and published in 1986. It integrates and synthesizes concepts pertaining to energy and resource quality, originally derived in the natural and physical sciences, and applies them to human economic systems. It examines how energy is used to transform natural…
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Energy Return of Investment: A Unifying Principle for Biology, Economics, and Sustainability
This book was written by Charles Hall and published in 2017. It provides a comprehensive explanation of the concept of energy return on investment and its relation to biology, economics, and sustainability, as well as a discussion of the maximum power principle. It uses these principles to provide recommendations for how societies can best deal…
A test of the maximum power hypothesis along an elevational gradient in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico
This paper was written by Nancy L. Harris, Charles A. S. Hall, and Ariel E. Lugo and published in 2013. The abstract states: “The maximum power principle predicts that maximum transformation of available energy into useful work occurs when a system operates at an intermediate rate and efficiency. This relation is apparent in everyday situations…
The continuing importance of maximum power
This essay was written by Charles A. S. Hall and published in 2004. Hall worked with H. T. Odum as a graduate student and wrote this article just after Odum passed away in 2002. Hall, C.A.S. 2004. The continuing importance of maximum power. Ecological Modeling 178: 107-113.