Deasy’s Taxonomia Vitae – OUTPUTS OF A LIVING ENERGY SYSTEM

108–115 — OUTPUTS OF A LIVING ENERGY SYSTEM

The Outputs of a Living Energy System layer identifies the matter and energy that remain as newly formed stocks within the focal system or leave that system as a consequence of metabolism, growth, interaction, reproduction, waste removal, and dissipation.

Operational definition

Layer type: Boundary-output and retained-stock layer Governs: Items 108–115

Governing question

What physically remains or crosses the boundary after acquisition, conversion, assimilation, and allocation?

Included outputs

retained biomass;
retained reserves;
reproductive export;
partner export;
secreted products;
excreted or egested material;
terminal metabolic products;
heat.

Stock-versus-output qualification

Not every child is an outward flow.

Retained biomass is an internal stock increase.
Retained reserves are an internal stock increase.
Reproductive export is an outward flow.
Heat is an outward energy transfer.

The layer therefore records system outcomes, including both retained products and exported products.

Inclusion rule

A quantity belongs here when it is a physically identifiable endpoint of the focal accounting interval.

The entry should specify:

material or energy form;
stock or flow;
destination;
chemical composition;
time interval;
whether it remains biologically usable.

Function-versus-output distinction

The same process can be described differently across layers.

For example:

allocation: reproduction;
life-history event: reproductive export;
physical output: egg containing a measured quantity of biomass and chemical free energy;
ecological transfer: offspring or consumer resource.

These are not duplications if they answer different questions and are not summed indiscriminately.

Terminal-product rule

A product is terminal only relative to the focal system and stated conditions.

For one organism:

CO_2

may be a terminal metabolic product.

For an autotroph, the same carbon dioxide may be an input.

Heat rule

Heat represents energy transfer in a dispersed thermal form. It is not the destruction of energy, but it ordinarily represents a reduction in the remaining capacity to drive organized biological work under ambient conditions.