Landscapes can reach steady state when patch birth and death rates balance
Evidence
Whether any landscapes are or have been in equilibrium with a disturbance regime is unknown. Zedler and Goff (1973) demonstrated that the population struc ture of an early successional tree was stable if large enough blocks of land were analyzed. Large areas included a mosaic of recently disturbed and undisturbed stands. To generalize this situation, if patch birth and death rates are in balance, landscapes may be in an overall steady state (Paine and Levin, 1981). The distur bance regime of such a landscape is stable. Change on any one site is, in the clearest cases, cyclic and is mediated by recurrent disturbance. — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2270
Categorization
- XREF: The shifting-mosaic steady state is the conceptual hinge for reading landscape disturbance history. — connects to: Equilibrium succession models give way to a kinetic view accepting site instability — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 367; Patch dynamic theory rests on unverified assumptions about population equivalence — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1821; Large-scale disturbances can prevent landscapes from reaching equilibrium — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2272 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Large-scale disturbances can prevent landscapes from reaching equilibrium
#contradicts(0.90) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 2272 - Fragmented-landscape populations rarely reach equilibrium, defeating deterministic management
#qualifies(0.85) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1233 - Patch turnover rate governs mutant fate when extinction outpaces migration
#expands(0.80) — S. T. A. Pickett and P. S. White, eds., The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and…, 1823