What are spatial scales in ecology?

Scale. In spatial ecology, scale refers to the spatial extent of ecological processes and the spatial interpretation of the data. The response of an organism or a species to the environment is particular to a specific scale, and may respond differently at a larger or smaller scale.

What is spatial heterogeneity in landscape ecology?

Spatial heterogeneity is a property generally ascribed to a landscape or to a population. It refers to the uneven distribution of various concentrations of each species within an area.

What are the basic scales of ecological analysis?

Although our paper focused on four primary measures of scale (resolution, extent, interval, and duration), we also included two non-traditional metrics, which we call ‘actual extent’ and ‘actual duration’. We define the first as the total area covered by spatial replicates.

Why is scale important in landscape ecology?

Why is scale important? Scale is a critical consideration in all landscape ecological studies for several reasons: # As one changes scale, controls on pattern and process change. –Local biological interactions can decouple systems from direct physical determination of patterns.

What is the spatial scale?

Spatial scale is the extent of an area at which a phenomenon or a process occurs. For example, water pollution can occur at a small scale, such as a small creek, or at a large scale, such as the Chesapeake Bay.

What are the four spatial scales?

Hence, we identify four types of response functions that ecosystem services generation at a particular spatial scale might show in relation to the amount of management intervention: linear, exponential, saturating, and sigmoid (Fig.

What is meant by spatial heterogeneity?

Spatial heterogeneity is defined either as the variation in space in distribution of a point pattern, or variation of a qualitative or quantitative value of a surface pattern (Dutilleul & Legendre 1993). It can be caused by habitat factors (Tscharntke et al.

What do we mean when we say that soil has spatial and temporal heterogeneity?

The key difference between temporal and spatial heterogeneity is that temporal heterogeneity refers to the diversity in kind or arrangement of components in an ecosystem across time while spatial heterogeneity is the diversity in kind or arrangement of components across space.

What is a spatial scale in geography?

Defining Scale Spatial scale has traditionally been defined by cartographers as the ratio between a distance on a map to the same distance in reality. This cartographic definition of scale is strictly correct.

What are the importance of scale in ecology?

The concept of scale in ecology is seen as increasingly important in our understanding of the functioning of ecological communities and the interaction of individual species with the environment.

What is the concept of scale in landscape ecology?

In land- scape ecology, scale refers primarily to grain (or reso- lution) and extent in space or/and time. Scale may be absolute (measured in spatial or time units) or rela- tive (denoted as a ratio).