Research aspects of the human ecology of settlement in the Australian arid zone.

Abstract

The Australian arid lands carry a population of about 500,000 residents and a further 250,000 periodic visitors, mainly tourists. This paper introduces concepts and principles from the field of human ecology and proposes that there may be some advantages in adopting an ecological approach to the study of human settlement in the Australian arid lands, where stressed environment and remote- ness play such an important part in human behaviour. Human ecology has been a branch of humangeography for more than 60 years. Some new interest has developed in the ecological approach because of recent advances in the understanding of the role of time as a space structuring factor.