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Concepts of scale and scaling

Informally Refereed

Abstract

The relationship between pattern and process is of great interest in all natural and social sciences, and scale is an integral part of this relationship. It is now well documented that biophysical and socioeconomic patterns and processes operate on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. In particular, the scale multiplicity and scale dependence of pattern, process, and their relationships have become a central topic in ecology (Levin 1992, Wu and Loucks 1995, Peterson and Parker 1998). Perspectives centering on scale and scaling began to surge in the mid-1980's and are pervasive in all areas of ecology today (Figure 1.1). A similar trend of increasing emphasis on scale and scaling is also evident in other natural and social sciences (e.g., Bloschl and Sivapalan 1995, Marceau 1999, Meadowcroft 2002).

Citation

Wu, Jianguo; Li, Harbin. 2006. Concepts of scale and scaling. In: Wu, Jianguo; Jones, K. Bruce; Li, Habin; Loucks, Orie, eds. Scaling and uncertainty analysis in ecology: methods and applications. Dordrect, Netherlands: Springer: 1-13
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/25374