Cross-scale morphology

Authors

Ahjond S. GarmestaniFollow
Craig R. Allen, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
C. S. Holling

Date of this Version

2013

Citation

Garmestani, A.S., C. R. Allen, and C. S. Holling. 2013. Cross-scale morphology. In A. H. El-Shaarawi and W. W. Piegorsch, editors. Encyclopedia of Environmetrics. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK.

Comments

US government work.

Abstract

The scaling of physical, biological, ecological, and social phenomena is a major focus of efforts to develop simple representations of complex systems. Much of the attention has been on discovering universal scaling laws that emerge from simple physical and geometric processes. However, there are regular patterns of departures both from those scaling laws and from continuous distributions of attributes of systems. Those departures often demonstrate the development of self-organized interactions between living systems and physical processes over narrower ranges of scale.