The ecological concept of disturbance and its expression at various hierarchical levels
-
-
Authors: S. T. A. Pickett, J. Kolasa, J. J. Armeston, and S. L. Collins
Date: 1989
Journal: Oikos
Volume: 54
Number: 2
Pages: 129-136
Summary of Methods: To study disturbance in a system where minimal structure is not known, an initial, or the best available approximation to minimal structure should be used. Pickett et. al proposed an operational program that can be followed by first constructing a hierarchical model containing the focal system, or level. The levels included are determined by the processes of interest at the focal level. The last step is to examine the effect of disturbance at a particular level on adjacent levels. Without such a hierarchical model, however, statements about the nature of disturbance, its role and sources, and predictions about its consequences are not well founded. The application of the concept of disturbance that uses as a reference this hierarchical structure of ecological systems is a first step toward greater generalization in the study of disturbance.
Article Summary / Main Points: None
Vegetation Types:
MLRA Ecoregions:
Agrovoc Control Words: Riparian zones Rangelands Wildlife
Article Review Type: Refereed
Article Type: Experimental Research
Keywords: disturbance, stress, ecological hierarchies, minimal structure, spatial dimension
Annotation: This paper does not list a region, vegetation type, grazing intensity, season of use, or herbivore. It mentions herbivory but not often.
-
Get article
Cite article with DOI
-