Multiple landscape scales: An intersite comparison

Abstract

Vegetation transect data from three locations were analyzed to determine if multiple scales of pattern could be detected. The sites included a semiarid grassland in New Mexico, a series of calcareous openings in a deciduous forest in Tennessee, and a shrub-steppe system in Washington. The data were explored with four statistical techniques. A scale of pattern was accepted if detected by more than one analytical method or located by a single method in multiple taxa. The analyses indicated 3–5 scales of pattern on all three sites, as predicted by Hierarchy Theory.