A scaling rule for landscape patches and how it applies to conserving soil resources in Savannas

Ecosystems

Volumn 3, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 84-97

  Ludwig, John A ^a   Wiens, John A ^b   Tongway, David J ^a  

^a CSIRO   (Australia)

^b Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences   (United States)

Author keywords

Land use disturbances; Landscape ecology; Resource conservation; Resource patches; Scaling equations; Scaling functions; Soil conservation; Soil nitrogen

Indexed keywords

EID: 0034102109     PISSN: 14329840     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s100210000012     Document Type: Article

References (99)

1. Addicott JF, Aho JM, Antolin MF, Padilla MF, Richardson JS, Soluk DA. 1987. Ecological neighborhoods: scaling environmental patterns. Oikos 49:340-6.
2. Ahl V, Allen TFH. 1996. Hierarchy theory. A vision, vocabulary, and epistomology. New York: Columbia University Press.
3. Allen TFH, Starr TB. 1982. Hierarchy: perspectives for ecological complexity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
4. Allen TFH, King AW, Milne BT, Johnson A, Turner S. 1993. The problem of scaling in ecology. Evolutionary Trends Plants 7:3-8.
5. Ash AJ, Bellamy JA, Stockwell TGH. 1994. State and transition models for rangelands. 4. Application of state and transition models to rangelands in northern Australia. Trop Grasslands 28:223-8.
6. Bloschl G, Sivapalan M. 1995. Scale issues in hydrological modelling: a review. Hydrol Processes 9:251-90.
7. Bowman DMJS. 1991. Environmental determinants of Allosyncarpia ternata forests that are endemic to western Arnhem Land, northern Australia. Aust J Bot 39:575-89.
8. Bowman DMJS. 1992. Monsoon forests in north-western Australia. II. Forest-savanna transitions. Aust J Bot 40:89-102.
9. Bowman DMJS, Fensham RJ. 1991. Response of a monsoon forest-savanna boundary to fire protection, Weipa, northern Australia. Aust J Bot 16:111-8.
10. Bowman DMJS, Minchin PR. 1987. Environmental relationships of woody vegetation patterns in the Australian monsoon tropics. Aust J Bot 35:151-69.
11. Bowman DMJS, Panton WJ. 1993. Factors that control monsoon-rainforest seedling establishment and growth in north Australian Eucalyptus savanna. J Ecol 81:297-304.
12. Bowman DMJS, Wilson BA, Hooper RJ. 1988. Response of Eucalyptus forest and woodland to four fire regimes at Munmarlary, Northern Territory, Australia. J Ecol 76:215-32.
13. Bowman DMJS, Wilson BA, McDonough L. 1991. Monsoon forests in northwestern Australia I. Vegetation classification and the environmental control of tree species. J Biogeogr 18:679-86.
14. Bridge BJ, Mott JJ, Hartigan RJ. 1983. The formation of degraded areas in the dry savanna woodlands of northern Australia. Aust J Soil Res 21:91-104.
15. Burrows WH, Scanlan JC, Anderson ER. 1988. Plant ecological relations in open forests, woodlands and shrublands. In: Burrows WH, Scanlan JC, Rutherford MT, editors. Native pastures in Queensland - the resources and their management. Information Series Q187023. Brisbane, Australia: Queensland Department of Primary Industries. p 72-90.
16. Cook GD. 1994. The fate of nutrients during fires in a tropical savanna. Aust J Ecol 19:359-65.
17. Day KJ, Harrison CJ, VanCuylenburg HRM. 1979. Land resources of Wildman River Station, NT. Land Conservation Report LC 79/6. Darwin, Australia: Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission.
18. Eldridge DJ. 1993. Effects of ants on sandy soils in semi-arid eastern Australia: local distribution of nest entrances and their effect on infiltration of water. Aust J Soil Res 31:509-18.
19. Eldridge DJ, Rotham J. 1992. Run-off and sediment yield from a semi-arid woodland in eastern Australia. I. The effect of pasture type. Rangeland J 14:26-39.
20. Fensham RJ, Kirkpatrick JB. 1992. Soil characteristics and tree species distribution in the savannah of Melville Island, Northern Territory. Aust J Bot 40:311-33.
21. Frisch JE, Vercoe JE. 1977. Food intake, entry rate, weight gains, metabolic rate and efficiency of feed utilisation in Bos taurus and Bos indicus crossbreed cattle. Anim Prod 25:343-58.
22. Gardener CJ, McIvor JG, Williams J. 1990. Dry tropical rangelands: solving one problem and creating another. In: Saunders DA, Hopkins AJM, How RA, editors. Australian ecosystems: 200 years of utilization, degradation and reconstruction. Sydney, Australia: Surrey Beatty and Sons. p 279-86.
23. Gardner RH, O'Neill RV, Turner MG, Dale VH. 1989. Quantifying scale-dependent effects of animal movement with simple percolation models. Landscape Ecol 3:217-27.
24. Garner W, Steinberger Y. 1989. A proposed mechanism for the formation of "fertile islands" in the desert ecosystem. J Arid Environ 16:257-62.
25. Gill AM. 1975. Fire and the Australian flora: a review. Aust For 38:4-25.
26. Gill AM, Moore PHR, Williams RJ. 1996. Fire weather in the wet-dry tropics of the World Heritage Kakadu National Park, Australia. Aust J Ecol 21:302-8.
27. Gillison AN. 1994. Woodlands. In: Groves RH, editor. Australian vegetation, 2nd ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p 227-55.
28. Graetz RD, Fisher RP, Wilson MA. 1992. Looking back: the changing face of the Australian continent. Canberra, Australia: CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology.
29. Greene RSB, Kinnell PIA, Wood JT. 1994. Role of plant cover and stock trampling on runoff and soil erosion from semi-arid wooded rangelands. Aust J Soil Res 32:953-73.
30. Greig-Smith P. 1979. Pattern in vegetation. J Ecol 67:755-79.
31. Gustafson EJ. 1998. Quantifying landscape spatial pattern: what is the state of the art? Ecosystems 1:143-56.
32. Holling CS. 1992. Cross-scale morphology, geometry, and dynamics of ecosystems. Ecol Monogr 62:447-502.
33. Holling CS, Peterson G, Marples P, Sendzimir J, Redford K, Gunderson L, Lambert D. 1996. Self-organisation in ecosystems: lumpy geometries, periodicities and morphologies. In: Walker B, Steffen W, editors. Global change and terrestrial ecosystems. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p 346-84.
34. Huenneke LF. 1996. Shrub and grasslands of the Jornada long-term ecological research site: desertification and plant community structure in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. In: Barrow JR, McArthur ED, Sosebee RE, Tausch RJ, editors. Proceedings: shrubland ecosystem dynamics in a changing environment. General Technical Report INT-GTR-338. Intermountain Research Station, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, Ogden, UT. p 48-50.
35. Ims RA. 1995. Movement patterns related to spatial structures. In: Hansson L, Fahrig L, Merriam G, editors. Mosaic landscapes and ecological processes. London: Chapman and Hall. p 85-109.
36. Isbell RF. 1983. Kimberley-Arnhem-Cape York (III), Chapter 14. In: CSIRO Division of Soils, editors. Soils: an Australian viewpoint. Melbourne, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p 189-99.
37. Jones JA. 1990. Termites, soil fertility and carbon cycling in dry tropical Africa: a hypothesis. J Trop Ecol 6:291-305.
38. Kareiva PM. 1990. Population dynamics in spatially complex environments: theory and data. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 330:175-90.
39. Kirkpatrick JB, Fensham RJ, Nunez M, Bowman DMJS. 1988. Vegetation-radiation relationships in the wet-dry tropics: granite hills in northern Australia. Vegetatio 76:103-12.
40. Kolasa J, Pickett STA, editors. 1991. Ecological heterogeneity. New York: Springer-Verlag.
41. Kotliar NB, Wiens JA. 1990. Multiple scales of patchiness and patch structure: a hierarchical framework for the study of heterogeneity. Oikos 59:253-60.
42. Krummel JR, Gardner RH, Sugihara G, O'Neill RV, Coleman PR. 1987. Landscape patterns in a disturbed environment. Oikos 48:321-4.
43. Levin SA. 1992. The problem of pattern and scale in ecology. Ecology 73:1943-67.
44. Lonsdale WM, Braithwaite RW. 1991. Assessing the effects of fire on vegetation in tropical savannas. Aust J Ecol 16:363-74.
45. Ludwig JA, Tongway DJ. 1992. Monitoring the condition of Australian arid lands: linked plant-soil indicators. In: McKenzie DH, Hyatt DE, McDonald VJ, editors. Ecological indicators, volume 1. Essex, UK: Elsevier. p 763-72.
46. Ludwig JA, Tongway DJ. 1995. Spatial organisation of landscapes and its function in semi-arid woodlands, Australia. Landscape Ecol 10:51-63.
47. Ludwig JA, Tongway DJ. 1996. Rehabilitation of semi-arid landscapes in Australia. II. Restoring vegetation patches. Restoration Ecol 4:398-406.
48. Ludwig JA, Tongway DJ. 1997. Modelling scale-dependent processes and impacts of agricultural disturbances on tropical savanna ecosystems in northern Australia. In: McDonald AD, McAleer M, editors. Proceedings, International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, volume 4. Canberra, Australia: The Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia. p 1875-80.
49. Ludwig JA, Tongway DJ, Marsden SG. 1994. A flow-filter model for simulating the conservation of limited resources in spatially heterogeneous, semi-arid landscapes. Pacific Conserv Biol 1:209-13.
50. Ludwig JA, Tongway DJ, Marsden SG. 1999a. Stripes, strands or stipples: modelling the influence of three landscape banding patterns on resource capture and productivity in semi-arid woodlands, Australia. Catena 37:257-73.
51. Ludwig JA, Tongway DJ, Eager RW, Williams RJ Cook GD. 1999b. Fine-scale vegetation patches decline in size and cover with increasing rainfall in Australian savannas. Landscape Ecol 14:557-66.
52. McIvor JG, Gardener CJ. 1995. Pasture management in semi-arid tropical woodlands: effects on herbage yields and botanical composition. Aust J Exp Agricult 35:705-15.
53. McIvor JG, Williams J, Gardener CJ. 1995. Pasture management influence run-off and soil movement in the semi-arid tropics. Aust J Exp Agricult 35:55-65.
54. Moore RM, Perry RA. 1970. Vegetation. In: Moore RM, editor. Australian grasslands. Canberra, Australia: Australian National University Press. p 59-73.
55. Morton SR, Andrew MH. 1987. Ecological impact and management of fire in northern Australia. Search 18:77-82.
56. Mott JJ, Tothill JC. 1984. Tropical and subtropical woodlands. In: Harrington GN, Wilson AD, Young MD, editors. Management of Australia's rangelands. Melbourne, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p 255-69.
57. Noy-Meir I. 1981. Spatial effects in modelling of arid ecosystems. In: Goodall DW, Perry RA, editors. Arid-land ecosystems: structure, functioning and management, volume 2. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p 411-32.
58. O'Neill RV. 1989. Perspectives in hierarchy and scale. In: Rough-garden J, May RM, Levin SA, editors. Perspectives in ecological theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p 140-6.
59. O'Neill RV, Milne BT, Turner MG, Gardner RH. 1988. Resource utilization scales and landscape patterns. Landscape Ecol 2:63-9.
60. Peterson G, Allen CR, Holling CS. 1998. Ecological resilience, biodiversity, and scale. Ecosystems 1:6-18.
61. Pickett STA, Osfeld RS, Shachak M, Likens GE, editors. 1997. Enhancing the ecological basis for conservation: heterogeneity, ecosystem function, and biodiversity. New York: Chapman and Hall.
62. Risser PG, Karr JR, Forman RTT. 1984. Landscape ecology: directions and approaches. Special Publication 2 Champaign, IL: Illinois Natural History Survey.
63. Russell-Smith J. 1992. Classification, species richness, and environmental relations of Monsoon rain forest in northern Australia. J Vegetation Sc 2:259-78.
64. Russell-Smith J, Ryan PG, Durieu R. 1997. A LANDSAT MSS-derived fire history of Kakadu National Park, monsoonal northern Australia, 1980-94: seasonal extent, frequency and patchiness. J Appl Ecol 34:748-66.
65. Sale PF. 1998. Appropriate spatial scales for studies of reef-fish ecology. Aust J Ecol 23:202-8.
66. Scanlan JC, Pressland AJ, Myles DJ. 1996. Run-off and soil movement on mid-slopes in north-east Queensland grazed woodlands. Rangeland J 18:33-46.
67. Schlesinger WH, Reynolds JF, Cunningham GL, Huenneke LF, Jarrell WM, Virginia RA, Whitford WG. 1990. Biological feedbacks in global desertification. Science 247:1043-8.
68. Schlesinger WH, Raikes JA, Hartley AE, Cross AF. 1996. On the spatial pattern of soil nutrients in desert ecosystems. Ecology 77:364-74.
69. Schneider DC. 1994. Quantitative ecology: spatial and temporal scaling. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
70. Seghieri J, Floret C, Ponanier R. 1994. Development of an herbaceous cover in a Sudano-Sahelian savanna in North Cameroon in relation to available soil water. Vegetatio 114: 175-94.
71. Southwood TRE. 1988. Tactics, strategies and templets. Oikos 52:3-18.
72. Stace HCT, Hubble GD, Brewer R, Northcote KH, Sleeman JR, Mulcahy MJ, Hallsworth EG. 1968. A handbook of Australian soils. Adelaide, Australia: Rellim Technical Publications.
73. Tongway DJ. 1995. Monitoring soil productive potential. Environ Monitoring Assess 37:303-18.
74. Tongway DJ, Hindley N. 1995. Manual for soil condition assessment of tropical grasslands. Canberra, Australia: CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology.
75. Tongway DJ, Ludwig JA. 1994. Small-scale resource heterogeneity in semi-arid landscapes. Pacific Conserv Biol 1:201-8.
76. Tongway DJ, Ludwig JA. 1996. Rehabilitation of semi-arid landscapes in Australia. I. Restoring productive soil patches. Restoration Ecol 4:388-97.
77. Tongway DJ, Ludwig JA. 1997a. The conservation of water and nutrients within landscapes, chapter 2. In: Ludwig J, Tongway D, Freudenberger D, Noble J, Hodgkinson K, editors. Landscape ecology, function and management: principles from Australia's rangelands. Melbourne, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p 17-26.
78. Tongway DJ, Ludwig JA. 1997b. The nature of landscape dysfunction in rangelands, chapter 5. In: Ludwig J, Tongway D, Freudenberger D, Noble J, Hodgkinson K, editors. Landscape ecology, function and management: principles from Australia's rangelands. Melbourne, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p 53-65.
79. Tongway DJ, Ludwig JA, Whitford WG. 1989. Mulga log mounds: fertile patches in the semi-arid woodlands of eastern Australia. Aust J Ecol 14:263-8.
80. Tothill JC. 1971. A review of fire in the management of native pasture with particular reference to north-eastern Australia. Trop Grasslands 5:1-10.
81. Twine JR, Williams CH. 1967. Determination of nitrogen in soils by automated chemical analysis. CSIRO Field Station Records 6:61-7.
82. Usher MB. 1975. Analysis of pattern in real and artificial plant populations. J Ecology 63:569-86.
83. Walker BH, Langridge JL, McFarlane F. 1997. Resilience of an Australian savanna grassland to selective and non-selective perturbations. Aust J Ecol 22:125-35.
84. Watt AS. 1947. Pattern and process in the plant community. J Ecol 35:1-22.
85. White LA. 1984. Dark cracking clays of the estuarine flood plains of the Northern Territory. In: McGarity JW, Hoult EH, So HB, editors. The properties and utilization of cracking clay soils. Reviews in Rural Science 5. Armidale, Australia: University of New England. p 29-35.
86. Whitehead PJ, Wilson BA, Bowman DMJS. 1990. Conservation of coastal wetlands of the Northern Territory of Australia: the Mary River floodplain. Biol Conserv 52:85-111.
87. Whitford WG, Anderson J, Rice PM. 1997. Stemflow contribution to the "fertile island" effect in creosotebush, Larrea tridentata. J Arid Environ 35:451-7.
88. Wiens JA. 1989. Spatial scaling in ecology. Funct Ecol 3:385-97.
89. Wiens JA. 1995. Landscape mosaics and ecological theory. In: Hansson L, Fahrig L, Merriam G, editors. Mosaic landscapes and ecological processes. New York: Chapman and Hall. p 1-26.
90. Wiens JA. 1997. The emerging role of patchiness in conservation biology. In: Pickett STA, Osfeld RS, Shachak M, Likens GE, editors. Enhancing the ecological basis for conservation: heterogeneity, ecosystem function, and biodiversity. New York: Chapman and Hall. p 93-107.
91. Wiens JA, Crawford CS, Gosz JR. 1985. Boundary dynamics: a conceptual framework for studying landscape ecosystems. Oikos 45:421-7.
92. Wiens JA, Stenseth NC, Van Horne B, Ims RA. 1993. Ecological mechanisms and landscape ecology. Oikos 66:369-80.
93. Wiens JA, Grist TO, With KA, Milne BR. 1995. Fractal patterns of insect movement in microlandscape mosaics. Ecology 76: 663-6.
94. Williams RJ, Duff GA, Bowman DMJS, Cook GD. 1996. Variation in the composition and structure of tropical savannas as a function of rainfall and soil texture along a large-scale climatic gradient in the Northern Territory, Australia. J Biogeogra 23:747-56.
95. Williams RJ, Cook GD, Ludwig JA, Tongway DT. 1997. Torch, trees, teeth and tussocks: disturbance in the tropical savannas of the Northern Territory (Australia). In: Klomp N, Lunt I, editors. Frontiers in ecology: building the links. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science. p 55-66.
96. Wilson BA, Brocklehurst PS, Clark MJ, Dickinson KJM. 1990. Vegetation of the Northern Territory, Australia. Technical Report No. 49. Darwin, Australia: Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory.
97. With KA. 1994. Ontogenetic shifts in how grasshoppers interact with landscape structure: an analysis of movement patterns. Funct Ecol 8:477-85.
98. With KA, Crist TO. 1996. Translating across scales: simulating species distributions as the aggregate response of individuals to heterogeneity. Ecol Modelling 93:125-37.
99. Woodmansee RG. 1990. Biogeochemical cycles and ecological hierarchies. In: Zonneveld IS, Forman RTT, editors. Changing landscapes: an ecological perspective. New York: Springer-Verlag. p 57-71.