Essay about 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†¦show more content†¦Fractal geometry is a tool that bridges the quot;gapquot; between different fields of ecology and provides a common language. Fractal geometry has provided new insight into many fields of ecology. Examples from population and landscape ecology will be used to illustrate the usefulness of fractal geometry to the field of ecology. Some population ecologists use fractal geometry to correlate the landscape structure with movement pathways of populations or organisms, which greatly influences population and community ecology. Landscape ecologists tend to use fractal geometry to define, describe, and model the scale-dependent heterogeneity of the landscape structure. Before exploring applications of fractal geometry in ecology, we must first define fractal geometry. The exact definition of a fractal is difficult to pin down. Even the man who conceived of and developed fractals had a hard time defining them (Voss 1988). Mandelbrots first published definition of a fractal was in 1977, when he wrote, quot;A fractal is a set for which the Hausdorff- Besicovitch dimension strictly exceeds the topographical dimensionquot; (Mandelbrot 1977). He later expressed regret for having defined the word at all (Mandelbrot 1982). Other attempts to capture the essence of a fractal include the following quotes: quot;Different people use the word fractal in different ways, but all agree that fractal objects