Spatial and temporal heterogeneity can make ecological systems hard to understand and model. We propose a simple classification of the types of spatial and temporal complexity contained in ecological systems, and describe the kinds of data and models needed to account for each. We classify ecological systems by the presence of heterogeneity at the scale of study, the nature of their dynamics (l...

Nature conservation is increasingly based on a landscape approach rather than a species approach. Landscape planning that includes nature conservation goals requires integrated ecological tools. However, species differ widely in their response to landscape change. We propose a framework of ecologically scaled landscape indices that takes into account this variation. Our approach is based on a c...

We compare lizard assemblages of Cerrado and Amazonian savannas to test the ecological release hypothesis, which predicts that niche dimensions and abundance should be greater in species inhabiting isolated habitat patches with low species richness (Amazonian savannas and isolated Cerrado patches) when compared with nonisolated areas in central Cerrado with greater species richness. We calculat...

In a seminal publication Hassell and May demonstrated that sufficiently uneven spatial distributions can stabilize predator-prey systems. In this article we investigate whether such spatial distributions (of either predators or prey) can be caused by behavior that is favored by natural selection. If selection operates on predators only, evolutionarily stable patch selection strategies (ESSs) wi...

Issues related to landscape changes and loss of biodiversity have emphasized the concept of ecological network. In its spatial meaning, an ecological network is a set of habitat patches linked by ecological fluxes. Since landscape graphs have recently appeared as efficient methods to model the ecological networks, the aim of this paper is to make a review of these approaches. First, the context...

agricultural landscapes with the green veins and forests patches are forming many parts of european landscapes. in spite of many ecological, economic and agricultural advantages of these elements, they have been changed due to agricultural intensification. we studied changes of these elements, their relations with agricultural activities, farming systems and land use of the adjacent parcel in t...

Fragmentation and reduced continuity of habitat patches threaten the environment and biodiversity. Recently, ecological networks are increasingly attracting the attention of researchers as they provide fundamental frameworks for environmental protection. This study suggests a set of procedures to construct an ecological network. First, we proposed a method to construct a landscape resistance su...

A metapopulation structure in landscape ecology comprises a group of interacting spatially separated subpopulations or patches of the same species that may experience several local extinctions. This makes the investigation of survivability (in the form of global oscillation) of a metapopulation on top of diverse dispersal topologies extremely crucial. However, among various dispersal topologies...