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Scaling Laws and Complexity in Fire Regimes

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The Landscape Ecology of Fire

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 213))

Abstract

Use of scaling terminology and concepts in ecology evolved rapidly from rare occurrences in the early 1980s to a central idea by the early 1990s (Allen and Hoekstra 1992; Levin 1992; Peterson and Parker 1998). In landscape ecology, use of “scale” frequently connotes explicitly spatial considerations (Dungan et al. 2002), notably grain and extent. More generally though, scaling refers to the systematic change of some biological variable with time, space, mass, or energy. Schneider (2001) further specifies ecological scaling sensu Calder (1983) and Peters (1983) as “the use of power laws that scale a variable (e.g., respiration) to body size, usually according to a nonintegral exponent” while noting that this is one of many equally common technical definitions. He further notes that “the concept of scale is evolving from verbal expression to quantitative expression” (p. 545), and will continue to do so as mathematical theory matures along with quantitative methods for extrapolating across scales.

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Notes

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     Wikipedia contributors, “Emergence,” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence. Accessed 25 Jan 2010.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, 400 N 34th St, Ste. 201, Seattle, WA, 98103-8600, USA

    Donald McKenzie

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  1. Donald McKenzie
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  2. Maureen C. Kennedy
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Correspondence to Donald McKenzie .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Wildlife Fire Sciences Laborator, US Forest Service, N 34th Ste. room 201 400, Seattle, 98103-8600, Washington, USA

    Donald McKenzie

  2. Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institu, US Forest Service, E. Beckwith Ave. 790, Misoula, 59801, Massachusetts, USA

    Carol Miller

  3. School of Natural Resources and the Envi, University of Arizona, Tuscon, 85721-0001, Arizona, USA

    Donald A. Falk

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McKenzie, D., Kennedy, M.C. (2011). Scaling Laws and Complexity in Fire Regimes. In: McKenzie, D., Miller, C., Falk, D. (eds) The Landscape Ecology of Fire. Ecological Studies, vol 213. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0301-8_2

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