Ecotopes are the smallest ecologically-distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system. As such, they represent relatively homogeneous, spatially-explicit landscape units that are useful for stratifying landscapes into ecologically distinct features for the measurement and mapping of landscape structure, function and change.

The identification of an ecotope is subjective and differs according to the prevailing ecological mapping and classification systems. As ecosystems are by definition composed of biotic and abiotic components, ecotope classification should include both living and non-living elements of the system.

Parameters that need to be considered in the classification of ecotopes include the period of stability (such as the number of years that a feature might persist).

The first definition of ecotope was made by Tansley in 1939. He stated that an ecotope is "the particular portion, […], of the physical world that forms a home for the organisms which inhabit it". In 1945 Carl Troll first applied the term to landscape ecology "the smallest spatial object or component of a geographical landscape". Other academics clarified this to suggest that an ecotope is ecologically homogeneous and is the smallest ecological land unit that is relevant.

In ecology an ecotope has been defined as "The species relation to the full range of environmental and biotic variables affecting it." However, the term ecotope is rarely used in this context, due to confusion with the niche concept.

External links

• A set of different definitions of the term "ecotope"

References

• Bastian, O., C. Beierkuhlein, H. J. Klink, J. Löfffler, U. Steinhardt, M. Volk, and M. Wilmking. 2003. Landscape structures and processes. Pages 49-112 in O. Bastian and U. Steinhardt, eds. Development and Perspectives of Landscape Ecology. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Farina, A. 1998. Principles and Methods in Landscape Ecology. Chapman & Hall, London; New York.
• Haber, W. 1994. System ecological concepts for environmental planning. Pages 49-67 in F. Klijn, ed. Ecosystem Classification for Environmental Management. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
• Ingegnoli, V. 2002. Landscape Ecology - a Widening Foundation: A Holistic Unifying Approach. Springer, Berlin; New York.
• Klijn, F., and H. A. Udo De Haes. 1994. A hierarchical approach to ecosystems and its implications for ecological land classification. Landscape Ecology 9: 89-104.
• Schmithüsen, J. 1948. "Fliesengefüge der Landschaft" und "Ökotop": Vorschläge zur begrifflichen Ordnung und zur Nomenklatur in der Landschaftsforschung. Berichte zur Deutschen Landeskunde (Bad Godesberg) 5: 74-83.
• Tansley, A. G. 1939. The British Isles and Their Vegetation. Vol. 1 of 2. Cambridge, United Kingdom. 494 pp.
• Troll, C. 1950. Die geografische landschaft und ihre erforschung. Pages 163-181. Studium Generale 3. Springer, Heidelberg, German Democratic Republic.
• Whittaker, R. H., S. A. Levin, and R. B. Root. 1973. Niche, habitat, and ecotope. American Naturalist 107: 321-338.
• Zonneveld, I. S. 1989. The land unit - A fundamental concept in landscape ecology, and its applications. Landscape Ecology 3: 67-86.