Chapter 25 - Scaling, Landscapes, Macroecology, and Macrosystems in Freshwaters

Abstract

Ecological processes, management, and evolution operate at the very broadest scales, such as watersheds and across continents, though experiments are usually performed at relatively small spatial scales. Some methods allow for large-scale monitoring (e.g., remote sensing), few experiments are done at broad geographical scales. Even but even whole-watershed or whole-lake experiments usually represent only a tiny fraction of any single type of waterbody across its entire range. Additionally, size of organisms varies about 8 orders of magnitude, from a µm to 100m, yet they are made of the same biochemical materials. How they vary as a function of size is an avenue to ecological understanding. There is a need for methods that allow us to scale up experiments and observations to whole systems, and ways to make broader generalizations if we are to understand ecological processes at scales relevant to freshwater conservation and management of freshwater habitats. Landscape ecology is the study of spatial relationships and ecology. Macroecology seeks to identify broad generalizations about organismic biology across levels of biological classification and organization. Macrosystems are very large-scale patterns (regional to continental). We discuss these approaches and their relevance to freshwater ecology, but first consider the general topic of scaling in ecology.