Ecological Scale: Theory and Application

This book synthesizes a diverse literature on scale in ecology. David L. Peterson and V. Thomas Parker gather contributions from scholars and resource managers representing a wide range of disciplines, including soil science, plant ecology, animal ecology, and aquatic ecology. They assist ecologists in developing new strategies for more accurate interpretations of data using a variety of scales. The distinguished contributors in “Ecological Scale” address the theoretical and methodological relevance of scale within a broad multidisciplinary context. Together, the chapters present convincing evidence that the integration of scale concepts into ecological study is of imminent global concern. Indeed, the understanding of such issues as global warming, the protection of biological diversity, and ecosystem management is affected by interpretation of scale. “Ecological Scale” provides invaluable perspectives on the application of the concepts of measurement, analysis, and inference in both theoretical and applied ecology, ultimately providing a broad-based understanding for resource managers and other ecological professionals.