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THURSDAY, APRIL 5 SCALE Much of our reading and discussion so far has touched indirectly on the issue of scale in the environmental sciences, particularly from an ecosystem perspective. Today we look at the issue straight-on. As complex systems (we will be getting into that soon!), ecosystems are composed of sub-systems at multiple scales, and two of the most important and difficult problems in environmental analysis are 1) choosing the right scale (spatial or temporal) for analysis, and 2) accounting for the way phenomena at one scale influence phenomena at larger or smaller scales. For today, read two very different pieces on scale. The Problem of Pattern and Scale in Ecology by Simon Levin is technical and dense, but brimming with ideas. The other, Renewing Husbandry by Wendell Berry is, predictably, a lot more lyrical, but in its own way just as stimulating because of its discussion of context, which is another way to think about scale. Activities for today's class will include:
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