The Application Of Fractal Geometry To Ecology

The Application of Fractal Geometry to Ecology

Abstract

New insights into the natural world are just a few of the results from the use

of fractal geometry. Examples from population and landscape ecology are used to

illustrate the usefulness of fractal geometry to the field of ecology. The

advent of the computer age played an important role in the development and

acceptance of fractal geometry as a valid new discipline. New insights gained

from the application of fractal geometry to ecology include: understanding the

importance of spatial and temporal scales; the relationship between landscape

structure and movement pathways; an increased understanding of landscape

structures; and the ability to more accurately model landscapes and ecosystems.

Using fractal dimensions allows ecologists to map animal pathways without

creating an unmanageable deluge of information. Computer simulations of

landscapes provide useful models for gaining new insights into the coexistence

of species. Although many ecologists have found fractal geometry to be an

extremely useful tool, not all concur. With all the new insights gained through

the appropriate application of fractal geometry to natural sciences, it is clear

that fractal geometry a useful and valid tool.

New insight into the natural world is just one of the results of the increasing

popularity and use of fractal geometry in the last decade. What are fractals and

what are they good for? Scientists in a variety of disciplines have been trying

to answer this question for the last two decades. Physicists, chemists,

mathematicians, biologists, computer scientists, and medical researchers are

just a few of the scientists that have found uses for fractals and fractal

geometry.

Ecologists have found fractal geometry to be an extremely useful tool for

describing ecological systems. Many population, community, ecosystem, and

landscape ecologists use fractal geometry as a tool to help define and explain

the systems in the world around us. As with any scientific field, there has been

some dissension in ecology about the appropriate level of study. For example,

some organism ecologists think that anything larger than a single organism

obscures the reality with too much detail. On the other hand, some ecosystem

ecologists believe that looking at anything less than an entire ecosystem will

not gi...

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