The physiotope is the total abiotic matrix of habitat present within any certain ecotope. It refers to the landform, the rocks and the soils, the climate and the hydrology, and the geologic processes which marshalled all these resources together in a certain way and in this time and place[1]

Technical Definition

Specifically, the physiotope denotes spatially explicit functional landscape units that can stratify landscapes into distinct units resulting from geological, morphological and soil processes.[2] In contrast to ecotopes, the physiotope does not include any definition of vegetation cover. [3] As such, resources used in mapping physiotopes strictly pertain to those implicated in the development and evolution of abiotic components of ecosystems. [4]

Applications

Physiotopes can be utilized in mapping landscapes to help study the relation between abiotic and biotic parts of nature (eg. how the soil composition, geomorphology, etc. of one area can impact how biotic elements grow) in both land[5] and aquatic ecosystems.[6] They can also be used for analyzing land-use development in relation to geography for insights into policy implications.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kratochwil, Anselm (1999). "Biodiversity in Ecosystems: Principles and Case Studies of Different Complexity Levels". Tasks for Vegetation Science.
  2. ↑ Seijmonsbergen, A.C. (2018). "Applications of Physiotope Mapping in the Cuesta Landscape of Luxembourg". The Luxembourg Gutland Landscape: 253–267.
  3. ↑ Klijn, F (1994). "A hierarchical approach to ecosystems and its implications for ecological land classification". Landscape Ecol: 89–104.
  4. ↑ Parks, KE (2010). "On the relationship between a resource based measure of geodiversity and broad scale biodiversity patterns". Biodivers Conserv: 2751–2766.
  5. ↑ Seijmonsbergen, A.C. (2018). "Applications of Physiotope Mapping in the Cuesta Landscape of Luxembourg". The Luxembourg Gutland Landscape: 253–267.
  6. ↑ Hamer, Kay (2023). "Loss of shallow water physiotope areas in tidal estuaries of the North Sea since the nineteenth century". Physical and Biogeochemical Processes: 1037–1050.
  7. ↑ Sulovsky, Marek (2017). "Spatial analysis of long-term land-use development in regard to physiotopes: case studies from the Carpathians". Physical Geography: 470–488.
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