Multiple Scales in Ecology

The Editors: Boris Schröder is «Wissenschaftlicher Assistent» at the Institute of Geoecology, University of Potsdam (Germany). His research focuses on statistical and process-based ecological modelling, quantitative landscape ecology and conservation biology.
Hauke Reuter was «Wissenschaftlicher Assistent» in the Department of General and Theoretical Ecology, University of Bremen (Germany). His research is dedicated to the modelling of ecological complexity which individual based models comprising food web interactions, dispersal processes and environmental risks of genetically modified plants.
Björn Reineking is PostDoc at the Chair of Forest Ecology, ETH Zürich (Switzerland). His research focuses on the mechanisms determining the distribution of species at a range of spatial scales, using both statistical and dynamic simulation models.

The scale dependence of ecological processes and patterns, as well as their analysis is a long-standing theme in ecology. The problem of scaling has three components: (i) direct measurements are commonly limited to small scales in time and space, (ii) the most pressing problems have to be addressed at comparatively large scales, but (iii) direct upscaling fails when local processes differ from those relevant at larger scales. The contributions collected in this volume evolved from the workshop 'Multiple Scales in Ecology', held in March 2005 at Seddinger See near Potsdam in Germany. The book is organized along four major themes: scale-dependent pattern formation, scale identification, multiscale analysis, and scaling in applications.

Contents : Horst Malchow/Frank M. Hilker: Pattern formation in models of nonlinear plankton dynamics: a minireview - Fred Jopp: Detecting critical scales in invertebrate dispersal - Carsten F. Dormann/Ralf Seppelt: Do organisms use landscapes at certain spatial scales? A null model for diversity pattern in relation to the spatial extend of landscapes - Birgit Felinks: Analysis of vegetation pattern by integrating aspects of multiple spatial scales in former lignite mining sites - Jens Dauber/Tobias Purtauf: A multi-scale analysis of the relative importance of habitat features and landscape context on species richness of carabids - Elisabeth Obermaier/Annette Heisswolf/Barbara Randlkofer: Comparison of habitat preference in a generalist and a specialist herbivorous beetle on multiple spatial scales - Hauke Reuter/Ulrike Middelhoff/Gunther Schmidt/Wilhelm Windhorst/Winfried Schröder/Broder Breckling: Up-scaling the environmental effects of genetically modified plants - Assessing potential impact on nature conservation areas in Northern Germany - Martin Szaramowicz: How does landscape planning deal with ecological scales?