Scaling issues for biodiversity protection

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:7067393

Pearson, S M; Turner, M G; Gardner, R H; O'Neill, R V

Environmental heterogeneity, in both space and time, has been important in the evolution and maintenance of biodiversity. Moreover, this heterogeneity is hierarchical in nature. Differences occur between biomes, between landscapes. Thus, hierarchical patterns of heterogeneity are a consequence of the the complexity within ecological communities, and the maintenance of biodiversity means the preservation of this complexity. Natural landscapes are dynamic systems that exhibit temporal and spatial heterogeneity. However, the exploitative nature of human activity tends to simplify landscapes (Krummel et al. 1987). The challenge of preserving biodiversity in managed landscapes is to incorporate natural levels of spatial and temporal heterogeneity into management schemes. The concept of scale has emerged as an important topic among ecologists that recognize the role of heterogeneity in natural ecosystems. Subjects related to scale such as grain (level of detail) and extent (size of area or duration of time) are frequently used to determine the appropriate interpretation of ecological data. Likewise, scale is important when applying ecological principles to biodiversity protection and conservation. The scale of a conservation endeavor affects the strategy involved, realistic goals, and probability of success. For instance, the spatial extent of a reserve system may be determined, for better or worse, by biogeography, distribution of surviving populations, political boundaries, or fiscal constraints. Our objectives are to: emphasize the importance of natural patterns of spatial and temporal heterogeneity, encourage a broader-scale perspective for conservation efforts, and illustrate the interaction between landscape-level heterogeneity and organism-based scales of resource utilization with a simulation experiment.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 7067393
• Report Number(s): CONF-9207106-1; ON: DE92016689
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540210* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990000 -- General & Miscellaneous
ANIMALS
CLIMATES
DATA
ECOLOGY
ECOSYSTEMS
HABITAT
INFORMATION
MAPPING
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
NUMERICAL DATA
PLANTS
SAFETY
SPECIES DIVERSITY
STATISTICAL DATA
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS