Environmental Energetics of Multicellularity

Abstract

Complex differentiated multicellularity entails energetic demands associated with cellular differentiation, adhesion, communication, and division of labor. Here, I propose environmental energetics as a heuristic framework for considering how environmentally structured energy becomes biologically accessible, captured, and integrated. Solar radiation and geochemical redox disequilibria provide contrasting energetic opportunities whose biological significance depends on their spatial and chemical organization. A data-constrained comparison of photosynthetic and hydrothermal redox systems shows that biologically conserved or thermodynamically available energetic fluxes can differ by several orders of magnitude. I suggest that the capture and cellular integration of environmental energy may broaden the energetic conditions compatible with differentiated multicellularity, without being either necessary or sufficient for its evolution. This framework links environmental energy, metabolic capture, and cellular organization while explicitly allowing multiple evolutionary pathways and feedbacks between organisms and their environments.