Landscape mosaics and ecological theory

Abstract

Reviews the treatment of heterogeneity in ecological theory. Initially the role of ecological theory is discussed. This is followed by a section on how ecologists have viewed space: homogeneity; heterogeneity; patchiness; and more recently sophisticated simulation models, aided by GIS and increasing computational power. Next, the way ecologists have dealt with the structure of spatial mosaics and their effects on ecological systems is covered (ecological flows and the scaling problem). Finally a section on landscape ecological theory is presented, together with ideas concerning what issues landscape theory should address and how theory should be developed. -S.R.Harris