PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 5: Aquatic Ecology: System Heterogeneity
Monday, August 8, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 515 A, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Dragon-slaying for ecologists: Dealing with spatial/temporal complexity in ecological systems.

Currie, Warren^*,1, ¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Athens, OH, USA

ABSTRACT- Systems in nature that are described as "patchy" rarely possess any actual patches per se. Rather, they have areas with higher values of some measurement than occur at others. Patchiness is a continuum bound at one end by homogeneity (a completely even distribution with identical measurements everywhere), and singularity (the entire signal is found at one point). As a spatial distribution moves away from randomness, metrics such as the mean and, in particular, the variance, will change as a function of the sampling scale (the "tyranny of scale"). New frameworks such as multifractals effectively describe high order (intermittent) statistical distributions, but linkages between multiple distributions require additional data. Analyses of complex data require sampling at biologically relevant resolution (grain), but with sufficient points (extent) to allow development of scaling relationships. Many sensors are now able to sample complex distributions of both biotic and abiotic factors at high resolution. We must not only use this technology, but also have sufficient technical expertise to understand its advantages and shortcomings. We require this detail to effectively couple complex environmental and biological data - which is our role as ecologists. Understanding the consequences of intermittency and improved sampling design can alleviate scale-dependence, which is relevant for all scales of ecological research from studies of landscape to individuals or physiology. I will discuss scale-dependence, using both terrestrial and aquatic data, in light of a problem that all empirical biologists must deal with at some point, the comparison of data taken at different scales.

Key words: scaling, patchiness, time-series, intermittency