The emergence of landscape ecology during the 1980s represents an impor- tant maturation of ecological theory. Once enamored with the conceptual beauty of well-balanced, homogeneous ecosystems, ecologists now assert that much of the essence of ecological systems lies in their lumpiness. Patches with differing properties and behaviors lie strewn across the land- scape, products of the complex interactions of climate, disturbance, and biotic processes. It is the collective behavior of this patchwork of eco- systems that drives pattern and process of the landscape. is not an end point This...