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# The Problem of Pattern and Scale in Ecology: The Robert H. MacArthur Award Lecture

## Details

**Authors** Levin, Simon A.

**Year** 1992

**Publisher** Ecology

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Ecology

**Secondary disciplines** Environment & Sustainability

**Applied** false

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.2307/1941447) 
10.2307/1941447

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To examine the problem of pattern and scale as central to ecology, linking population biology, ecosystem science, and basic and applied work.

### How they did it (methods)

An award lecture reviewing examples from marine and terrestrial ecology.

### What they found (results)

Levin finds that no single natural scale is appropriate for studying ecological systems, which vary across a range of spatial, temporal and organizational scales. The observer imposes a perceptual bias, and organisms' own traits, such as dispersal and dormancy, shape the scales they experience. Mechanisms often operate at different scales than the patterns they produce. Some patterns emerge from the collective behavior of smaller units, while others are imposed by larger-scale constraints. He calls for methods of simplifying, aggregating and scaling up ecological laws.

## Commentary

### In short

The lecture shows ecological systems as nested levels in which wholes arise from interacting parts and in turn constrain them. What is seen depends on the scale at which the observer views the system, and on the scale at which each organism experiences its surroundings.

**Patterns it shows** S, R, P

Shows the structure is there

**Added** 2026-10-09

**How to cite this** Levin, Simon A. (1992). The Problem of Pattern and Scale in Ecology: The Robert H. MacArthur Award Lecture. Ecology.