Landscape Ecology and the General Theory of Resources: Comparing Two Paradigms

This paper is an attempt to connect the General Theory of Resources (GTR) with the principles that guide the Landscape Ecology Principles (LEP). The recent GTR is based on the assumption that resources are the common requirement for individual species, populations, communities and ecosystems. We therefore describe the main characteristics of resources, while the biosemiotic mechanisms with which to track them are also discussed.

Moreover, and with a view to their reinterpretation, we have confronted the issues of patch shape, heterogeneity, corridors, ecotones and fragmentation with these GTR principles. According to the thesis presented in this paper, resources can be tracked using the specific spatial configuration carrier of meaning (the eco-field), while the major features of landscapes, such as size, shape and the distribution of patches, are used by organisms (animals) as a semiotic cue with which to identify eco-fields and associated resources.