The physiotope is the total
abiotic
In biology and ecology, abiotic components or abiotic factors are non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems. Abiotic factors and the phenomena associated with them und ...
matrix of
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
present within any certain
ecotope
Ecotopes are the smallest ecologically distinct landscape features in a landscape mapping and classification system. As such, they represent relatively homogeneous, spatially explicit landscape functional units that are useful for stratifying lan ...
. It refers to the landform, the rocks and the soils, the climate and the hydrology, and the geologic processes which marshalled all these resources together in a certain way and in this time and place
Technical Definition
Specifically, the physiotope denotes spatially explicit functional landscape units that can stratify landscapes into distinct units resulting from geological, morphological and soil processes. In contrast to ecotopes, the physiotope does not include any definition of vegetation cover. As such, resources used in mapping physiotopes strictly pertain to those implicated in the development and evolution of ''abiotic'' components of ecosystems.
Applications
Physiotopes can be utilized in mapping landscapes to help study the relation between abiotic and biotic parts of nature (eg. how the soil composition, geomorphology, etc. of one area can impact how biotic elements grow) in both land and aquatic ecosystems. They can also be used for analyzing land-use development in relation to geography for insights into policy implications.
[{{cite journal , last1=Sulovsky , first1=Marek , title=Spatial analysis of long-term land-use development in regard to physiotopes: case studies from the Carpathians , journal=Physical Geography , date=2017 , pages=470-488]
See also
*
Ecological land classification Ecological classification or ecological typology is the classification of land or water into geographical units that represent variation in one or more ecological features. Traditional approaches focus on geology, topography, biogeography, soils, v ...
References
Ecosystems
Ecology terminology
Habitat