The ratio of entropy generation rate to entropy embodied in structures relatively to the surroundings can be considered as an indicator of the ability of a self-organizing dissipative system to maintain itself far from equilibrium by pumping out entropy. The higher the ratio (which may be called the specific entropy production or the specific dissipation of a system), the lower the capacity of a system to convert the incoming low-entropy energy into internal organization. It appears that the ratio attains special significance for interpreting the evolution of biological systems, as the maximum expression of self-organizing systems, from the sub-cellular to the ecosystem scale. This paper proposes specific dissipation, written as the ratio of biological entropy production to exergy stored in the living biomass, as a thermodynamic orientor as well as an indicator of the development state of ecological systems. After having presented a method for estimating the specific dissipation in lakes, the adequacy of the proposed indicator is discussed and also tested by comparing its response to those of some classical ecological attributes (successional sequences of species, biodiversity, individual body size, structural organization and generation time of organisms) throughout the seasonal progression of the plankton community in Lake Trasimeno (Umbria, Italy). The results support the hypothesis that the minimization of specific dissipation is a primary criterion of evolution of ecological systems and also sustain the use of specific dissipation as an indicator of ecological maturity.