Enkele opmerkingen over het begrip ekotoop

Ecotope and related terms are frequently used in recent studies on spatial patterns of environmental factors. In this contribution a more practical use of these terms is discussed. The suggestions are mainly based on a recent terminology proposal („landschapstaal”) made by a special committee of the Working group for Landscape-ecology (WLO) in the Netherlands. The terminology suggested is close to the proposal of Haase (ed. 1973). First the endings -tope and -chore are related to the degree of homogeneity. Ecotope thus is a spatial unit that is as homogene as possible. An ecochore is a spatial unit with a characteristic heterogeneity, a mosaic or a gradient. Secondly the prefixes eco- and phyto-, zoo-, etc. are related to the character of the units. Ecotope thus stands for a spatial unit resulting from the interaction of a biotic and an abiotic component. A phytotope is a spatial vegetation unit. The terms biotope and geotope are not recommended for use in landscape science because the prefixes bio- and geo- have too different meanings in the disciplines participating in landscape-ecological studies. Thirdly the scale problem is discussed. Neither -tope nor -chore are bound to a specific scale level. The same can be stated for phyto- or eco-. It is therefore proposed to introduce additionally micro-, meso-, macro-, etc. to indicate the largeness of the units. More systematical comparison of different maps is required to agree upon a definition of the scale levels.