Linking ecosystems to landscapes A challenge for ecologists

This contribution is based on the assumption that solutions to most environmental problems will require the application of knowledge based on an understanding of how ecosystems and landscapes function and how they are linked in time and space. I also assume that almost all plans to solve environmental problems will be made with the knowledge that they are based on a limited and imperfect scientific understanding of how ecosystems and landscapes function. This dilemma creates problems for scientists who are often asked to provide commentaries on or solutions for environmental problems. Nowhere is this situation more obvious than in the fields of ecosystem and landscape ecology, where the information base is often limited and where experimental studies are often difficult to conduct because of problems of scale.