Conclusions
In some fields of biology, such as medicine, hierarchical levels are well defined (e.g., cell, organ, body), and problems of scale may seldom arise. If you want to study blood cells, you reach for a microscope. A landscape is less easily defined, however, and scale must be carefully considered in problem formulation, data collection, and analysis of results. Otherwise, you might reach for a magnifying glass when you really need a telescope.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Allen, T. F. H. 1998. The landscape “level” is dead: Persuading the family to take it off the respirator. In D. L. Peterson and V. T. Parker, eds. Ecological Scale: Theory and Applications. Columbia University Press, New York, Chapter 3. Distinguishes levels of organization and scale.
Allen, T. F. H., R. V. O’Neill, and T. Hoekstra. 1987. Interlevel relations in ecological research and management: Some working principles from hierarchy theory. Journal of Applied Systems 14 63–79.
King, A. W. 1997. Hierarchy theory: A guide to system structure for wildlife biologists. In J. A. Bissonette, ed. Wildlife and Landscape Ecology: Effects of Pattern and Scale. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 185–212. One of the best concise overviews of hierarchy theory, presented in terms easily accessible to biologists.
O’Neill, R.V., D. L. Deangelis, J. B. Waide, and T. F. H. Allen. 1986. A Hierarchical Concept of Ecosystems. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. This classic book lays out the conceptual basics of hierarchy theory as it applies to many areas of ecology.
Rose, G. A., and W. C. Leggett. 1990. The importance of scale to predatory-prey spatial correlations: An example of Atlantic fish. Ecology 71:33–43.
Urban, D. L., R. V. O’Neill, and H. H. Shugart Jr. 1987. Landscape ecology. Bio-Science 37:119–127. A classic early paper that discusses landscape ecology with an emphasis on hierarchical structure.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
O’Neill, R.V., Smith, M.A. (2002). Scale and Hierarchy Theory. In: Gergel, S.E., Turner, M.G. (eds) Learning Landscape Ecology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-21613-8_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-21613-8_1
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-95254-3
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-21613-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive