Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley, 202 Wurster Hall #2000, Berkeley, CA, 94720-2000, USA,
Environ Manage. 2014 Jan;53(1):76-87. doi: 10.1007/s00267-013-0078-9. Epub 2013 May 29.
Exploring spatial and temporal scales provides a way to understand human alteration of landscape processes and human responses to these processes. We address three topics relevant to human-landscape systems: (1) scales of human impacts on geomorphic processes, (2) spatial and temporal scales in river restoration, and (3) time scales of natural disasters and behavioral and institutional responses. Studies showing dramatic recent change in sediment yields from uplands to the ocean via rivers illustrate the increasingly vast spatial extent and quick rate of human landscape change in the last two millennia, but especially in the second half of the twentieth century. Recent river restoration efforts are typically small in spatial and temporal scale compared to the historical human changes to ecosystem processes, but the cumulative effectiveness of multiple small restoration projects in achieving large ecosystem goals has yet to be demonstrated. The mismatch between infrequent natural disasters and individual risk perception, media coverage, and institutional response to natural disasters results in un-preparedness and unsustainable land use and building practices.
探索时空尺度可以帮助我们理解人类对景观过程的改变以及人类对这些过程的响应。文中涉及到与人类-景观系统相关的三个主题：（1）人类对地貌过程影响的尺度；（2）河流恢复的时空尺度；（3）自然灾害以及行为和制度响应的时间尺度。研究表明，通过河流，来自高地到海洋的沉积物通量在最近发生了显著变化，这说明了在过去的两千多年里，人类景观发生了迅速且范围广泛的变化，而在 20 世纪后半叶，这种变化尤为明显。与历史上对生态系统过程的人类改变相比，近期河流恢复工作的空间和时间尺度通常较小，但在实现大型生态目标方面，多个小型恢复项目的累积效果还有待证明。不频繁发生的自然灾害与个人风险感知、媒体报道以及对自然灾害的制度响应之间的不匹配，导致了准备不足和不可持续的土地利用和建筑实践。
