Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 7
Ecosystems and Spatial Patterns
Patrick M.A. James and Marie-Jos
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e Fortin
Glossary
Disturbance
A spatial process or event that reverts forest vegetation to early
successional
stages
typically altering forest
structure and
composition.
Ecotone
A region of interface between two communities, ecosystems, or
biogeographic regions.
Legacy
A persisting spatial feature or pattern that was generated by
a historical disturbance. Legacies can constrain the spatial
dynamics of contemporary disturbances.
Multi-scale
analysis
A method of spatial analysis that looks at the relative
contributions of different scales of spatial pattern to a single
observed spatial pattern.
Pattern
A repeatable and identifiable feature in a spatial context.
Scale
An attribute of a spatial process or data used to represent that
process that describes its spatial dimensions. Scale includes
elements of grain, extent, and thematic resolution.
Spatial
autocorrelation
The degree of correlation of a variable and itself as a function of
the spatial distances among sample points.
