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Fig. 1.9 Fragmentation results in a complex process that occurs when a disturbance changes the
value of specific cover and creates information at the edge of the disturbance process. The different
levels of fragmentation are indicated in terms of severity: perforation (the first seeds of
a disturbance) ( a ); dissection (a first separation along a significant extension, such as a road in a
tropical forest) ( b ); fragmentation sensu stricto (a significant reduction of cover and insularization)
( c ); shrinkage (further reduction of the size of patches) ( d ); and rarefaction (reduction in number
and size of fragments) ( e ) (Reproduced with permission from Bogaert 2000 )
1.10 Sonic Patterns in Soundscape Ecology
In landscape ecology, patterns and processes are phenomenological categories that
allow better understanding of the complexity of this ecological domain. Heteroge-
neity and ecotones are two examples of spatial patterns; fragmentation and edge
effect are examples of processes (Farina 2006 ). This epistemic approach can be
used as well in soundscape ecology to distinguish sonic patterns from sonic
processes.
1.10.1 Definition of Sonotope
The landscape is patchy at several scales, and this patchiness reflects the heteroge-
neous distribution of resources (see “General Theory of Resources”; Farina 2012 ).
Animals aggregate according to such distribution and they interact acoustically on
the basis of their distribution, habitat preferences, density, and intra- and interspe-
cific competition.
It is reasonable to hypothesize that according this pattern the sonic environment
created by the blending of geophonies, biophonies, and anthrophonies can also be
equally shaped.
As in landscape ecology, where the ecotope is the coincident overlap of geotopes
and biotopes, in the same way the sonotope is a distinct sonic unit or sonic patch
produced by the overlap of geophonies, biophonies, and anthrophonies. Every
source of sounds has a different spatial and temporal extension, and consequently
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