Extremal principles and goal functions of biocenotic systems

This review considers two alternative principles known in ecology, maximizing or minimizing the diversity-entropy of biological systems, and shows the inadequacy of both extremal principles as applied to natural biocenotic assemblages. A necessary condition for existence of multispecies systems is not extremization of any parameters thereof but optimization of the relations of these parameters (including those that uniquely determine the extent of species diversity). Thus, the goal function that any biocenotic system tends to minimize in the course of succession and evolution proves to be the deviation from this optimal ratio.