How spatial and temporal scale affect the perception of change in rangelands.

Abstract

Heterogeneity in rangelands occurs at many levels, both spatially and temporally. The different levels are hierarchically ordered, from organism to landscape in the spatial context, and each has its characteristic emergent properties. Models of rangeland succession are dependent on the spatial scales of disturbance and assessment. Detectionof changes in the productive potential of rangelands is also scale dependent. Commonly, the emergent properties of lower levels, e.g, composition within communities, are used incorrectly to indicate the status of higher levels, e.g landscapes. Understanding the nature of change requires an exploration of different scales of heterogeneity.