- C G Chakrabarti: Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, 700009 India.
In the present paper, we have first studied the role of the maximum-entropy principle to explain the concept of organization of a physical system in the decreasing law of entropy with the increase of external constraints imposed on the system. We have then considered an open ecosystem (living) and determined a quantitative measure of ecological organization from the consideration of the thermodynamics of irreversible processes. Finally, we have tried to explain the evolution of the ecosystem in the light of Prigogine's principle of "order through fluctuation."