Fractals in ecology: methods and interpretation

Abstract

We agree that the method of computing fractals described by Mark (1984) is both more appropriate and more informative than the method we used (Bradbury and Reichelt, 1983). In this note, we argue that it is the departure from strict self-similarity in real structures that gives them their ecologi- cal interest. We support these arguments with the analysis of new finer-resolution data from the previously studied coral reef which suggests that reefs are extremely smooth struc- tures at the scale of coral colonies, and that this smoothness is reduced at both finer and coarser scales. David