Habitat Use and Spatial Structure

Abstract

Most ecological theory is founded on the dubious notion that environmental conditions are homogeneous. Although it is undeniable that environmental variability increases substantially with the spatial scale of observation (Bell et al. 1993), there is still ample environmental variation within 1m² plots (Beckett and Webster 1971; Tilman 1982; Lechowicz and Bell 1992). Hence, it is probably just as meaningful to think about spatial variation in topography, habitat, and resource distribution for a soil nematode as it is for a mountain gorilla.