Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Discontinuities, cross-scale patterns, and the organization of ecosystems
Ecology, Volume 95, No. 3, Year 2014
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
Ecological structures and processes occur at specific spatiotemporal scales, and interactions that occur across multiple scales mediate scale-specific (e.g., individual, community, local, or regional) responses to disturbance. Despite the importance of scale, explicitly incorporating a multi-scale perspective into research and management actions remains a challenge. The discontinuity hypothesis provides a fertile avenue for addressing this problem by linking measureable proxies to inherent scales of structure within ecosystems. Here we outline the conceptual framework underlying discontinuities and review the evidence supporting the discontinuity hypothesis in ecological systems. Next we explore the utility of this approach for understanding cross-scale patterns and the organization of ecosystems by describing recent advances for examining nonlinear responses to disturbance and phenomena such as extinctions, invasions, and resilience. To stimulate new research, we present methods for performing discontinuity analysis, detail outstanding knowledge gaps, and discuss potential approaches for addressing these gaps. © 2014 by the Ecological Society of America.
Authors & Co-Authors
Nash, Kirsty L.
Australia, Townsville
James Cook University
Allen, Craig R.
United States, Lincoln
University of Nebraska–lincoln
Angeler, David G.
Sweden, Uppsala
Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet
Barichievy, Chris
South Africa, Cascade
Ezemvelo Kzn Wildlife
South Africa, Johannesburg
University of the Witwatersrand
Eason, Tarsha N.
United States, Cincinnati
Us Epa National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Garmestani, Ahjond S.
United States, Cincinnati
Us Epa National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Graham, Nicholas Anthony James
Australia, Townsville
James Cook University
Granholm, Dean
United States, Bloomington
U.s. Fish and Wildlife Service
Knutson, Melinda G.
United States, La Crosse
U.s. Fish and Wildlife Service
Nelson, Richard John
Canada, Victoria
University of Victoria
Nyström, Magnus
Sweden, Stockholm
Stockholms Universitet
Stow, Craig A.
United States, Ann Arbor
Altarum Institute
Sundstrom, Shana M.
United States, Lincoln
School of Natural Resources
Statistics
Citations: 125
Authors: 13
Affiliations: 12
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1890/13-1315.1
ISSN:
00129658