Patch dynamics

Patch dynamics is an ecological perspective that the structure, function, and dynamics of ecological systems can be understood through studying their interactive patches. Patch dynamics, as a term, may also refer to the spatiotemporal changes within and among patches that make up a landscape. Patch dynamics is ubiquitous in terrestrial and aquatic systems across organizational levels and spatial scales. From a patch dynamics perspective, populations, communities, ecosystems, and landscapes may all be studied effectively as mosaics of patches that differ in size, shape, composition, history, and boundary characteristics. 
The idea of patch dynamics dates back to the 1940s when plant ecologists studied the structure and dynamics of vegetation in terms of the interactive patches that it comprises. A mathematical theory of patch dynamics was developed by Simon Levin and Robert Paine in the 1970s, originally to describe the pattern and dynamics of an intertidal community as a patch mosaic created and maintained by tidal disturbances. Patch dynamics became a dominant theme in ecology between the late 1970s and the 1990s. 
Patch dynamics is a conceptual approach to <a href="/facts/Ecosystem/kVE8mSmR">ecosystem</a> and habitat analysis that emphasizes dynamics of <a href="/facts/Heterogeneity/y84KQJxl">heterogeneity</a> within a system (i.e. that each area of an ecosystem is made up of a mosaic of small 'sub-ecosystems').
Diverse patches of habitat created by natural <a href="/facts/Disturbance_regimes/0y85hFeB">disturbance regimes</a> are seen as critical to the maintenance of this <a href="/facts/Diversity_(ecology)/GruakEzs">diversity (ecology)</a>. A habitat patch is any discrete area with a definite shape, spatial and configuration used by a species for breeding or obtaining other resources. Mosaics are the patterns within landscapes that are composed of smaller elements, such as individual forest stands, shrubland patches, highways, farms, or towns.

Patch dynamics open-in-new

Patch dynamics