Scale, Scope, and Power Laws in the Environmental Sciences

Environmental Science 6000. 17 September 2009.

Physical, chemical, and biological phenomena and the process that underlie them depend on spatial and temporal scale. Similarly, the environmental effects of human activity and the response to these effects (monitoring, research into mechanism, mitigation) depend on scale. The concept of scale has a long history in oceanography, metereorology and hydrology. It is a more recent development in ecology and environmental biology. In this three hour session we will cover the concept of scale-dependence, learn to use scope diagrams to visualize scale-dependent phenomena and environmental impacts relative to research programs, and gain some experience with simple calculations of scale dependent effects.

The session will be structured in 3 segments, each consisting of a presentation followed by a group activity.
Note that a calculator is required for the last segment

Presentation Scale-Dependence in the Environmental Sciences
Application (discussion based on student experience)

Presentation Scope Diagrams
Construction of scope diagrams - group projects

Presentation Calculating Scale-Dependent Effects
Examples to be completed in groups

Readings

Schneider, D.C. 2001. The rise of the concept of scale in ecology. BioScience 51: 545-553 pdf

Schneider, D.C. 2009. Quantitative Ecology. Measurement, Models, and Scaling. 2nd ed. Academic Press Chapter 2