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The eco‐field: A new paradigm for landscape ecology
Author(s) -
FARINA Almo,
BELGRANO Andrea
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
ecological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1440-1703
pISSN - 0912-3814
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1703.2003.00613.x
Subject(s) - field (mathematics) , landscape epidemiology , ecology , landscape ecology , habitat , geography , biology , mathematics , pure mathematics
In the spirit of the theory of biocomplexity and of the non‐linear emergent characters of ecological systems, the eco‐field is a new paradigm that integrates the vision of the landscape as a neutral matrix (like a habitat) in which organisms are living, and contemporarily as a product of the human mind. Eco‐field is defined a ‘cognitive field’ created by the interference between functional traits and the ‘real world’. Species‐specific environmental suitability is the result of the quality of the different eco‐fields and the landscape becomes a cognitive entity. The eco‐field paradigm can be extended to the emergent properties of the systems. The eco‐field of emergences is the geographic space in which the emergent properties appear. The eco‐field of organisms and the eco‐field of emergences, like results of aggregated entities, have in common the multidimensionality of landscapes, refusing the vision of landscape like a neutral geographic matrix for organisms and processes.