Abstract
Although often seen as a scale-independent measure, we show that the fractal dimension of the forest cover of the Cazaville Region changes with spatial scale. Sources of variability in the estimation of fractal dimensions are multiple. First, the measured phenomenon does not always show the properties of a pure fractal for all scales, but rather exhibits local self-similarity within certain scale ranges. Moreover, some sampling components such as area of sampling unit, the use of a transect in the estimation of the variability of a plane, the location, and the orientation of a transect all affect, to different degrees, the estimation of the fractal dimension. This paper assesses the relative importance of these components in the estimation of the fractal dimension of the spatial distribution of woodlots in a fragmented landscape. Results show that different sources of variability should be considered when comparing fractal dimensions from different studies or regions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bariteau, L. 1986. La cartographie géomorphologique au 1:20000 de modelés polygéniques: un exemple des basses terres du haut Saint-Laurent. Mémoire de maîtrise, Université de Montréal, 185p.
Bramley, R.G. and White, R.E. 1991. An analysis of variability in the activity of nitrifiers in soil under pasture. II Some problems in the geostatistical analysis of biological soil properties. Aust. J. Soil Res. 29: 109–122.
Burgess, T.M. and Webster, R. 1981. Optimal interpolation and isarithmic mapping of soil properties.J. Soil Sci. 31: 315–331.
Burlando, B. 1990. The fractal dimension of taxonomic systems. J. Theor. Biol. 146: 99–114.
Burrough, P.A. 1981. Fractal dimension of landscapes and other environmental data. Nature 294: 240–242.
Burrough, P.A. 1983a. Multiscale sources of spatial variation in soil. I. Application of fractal concepts to nested levels of soil variation. J. Soil Sci. 34: 577–597.
Burrough, P.A. 1983b. Multiscale sources of spatial variation in soil. II. A non-brownian fractal model and its application in soil survey. J. Soil Sci. 34: 577–597.
Burrough, P.A. 1987. Spatial aspect of ecological data. In Data analysis in community and landscape ecology. Edited by R.H.G. Jongman, C.J.F. ter Braak and O.F.R. van Tongeren. Pudoc, Wageningen. p. 213–251.
Collins, S.L. and Glenn, S.M. 1990. A hierarchical analysis of species abundance patterns in grassland vegetation. Am. Nat. 135: 633–648.
Feldman, D.S. Jr., Hofmann, R., Gagnon, J. and Simpson, J. 1987. Statview II. Abacus Concept Inc. 278p.
Frontier, S. 1987. Application of fractal theory to ecology. In Developments in numerical ecology. Edited by P. Legendre and L. Legendre. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 335–378.
Journel, A.G. and Huijbregts, C. 1978. Mining geostatistics. Academic Press, London. 600 pp.
Krummel, J.P., Gardner, R.H., Sugihara, G., O'Neill, R.V. and Coleman, P.R. 1987. Landscape patterns in disturbed environment. Oikos 48: 321–324.
Logan, B.E. and Wilkinson, D.B. 1990. Fractal geometry of marine snow and other biological aggregates. Limnol. Oceanogr. 35: 130–136.
Mandelbrot, B.B. 1982. The fractal geometry of nature. Freeman, San Francisco.
Milne, B.T. 1990. Lessons from applying fractal models to landscape pattern. In Quantitative methods in landscape ecology. Edited by M.G. Turner and R.H. Gardner. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 199–235.
Palmer, M.W. 1988. Fractal geometry: a tool for describing spatial patterns of plant communities. Vegetatio 75: 91–102.
Robertson, G.P. 1987. Geostatistics in ecology: interpolating with known variance. Ecol. 68: 744–748.
Russo, D. and Jury, W.A. 1987. A theoretical study of the estimation of the correlation scale in spatially variables field. 1. Stationary fields. Water Resources Research 23: 1257–1268.
Sugihara, G. and May, R.M. 1990. Application of fractals in ecology. TREE 5: 79–86.
Trangmar, B.B., Yost, R.S. and Uehara, G. 1985. Application of geostatistics to spatial studies of soil properties. Adv. Agron. 38: 45–94.
Turner, M.G., O'Neill, R.V., Gardner, R.H. and Milne, B.T. 1989. Effect of changing spatial scale on the analysis of landscape pattern. Land. Ecol. 3: 153–162.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Leduc, A., Prairie, Y.T. & Bergeron, Y. Fractal dimension estimates of a fragmented landscape: sources of variability. Landscape Ecol 9, 279–286 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129239
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129239