Multi-scaled drivers of ecosystem state: quantifying the importance of the regional spatial scale

The regional spatial scale is a vital linkage for the informed extrapolation of results from local to continental scales to address broad-scale environmental problems. Among-region variation in ecosystem state is commonly accounted for by using a regionalization framework, such as an ecoregion classification. Rarely have alternative regionalization frameworks been tested for variables measuring ecosystem state, nor have the underlying relationships with the variables that are used to define them been assessed. In this study, we asked two questions: (1) How much among-region variation is there for ecosystems and does it differ by regionalization framework? (2) What are the likely causes of this among-region variation? We present a case study using a large data set of lake water chemistry, uni- and multi-scaled hydrogeomorphic and anthropogenic driver variables that likely influence lake chemistry at the subcontinental scale, and seven existing regionalization frameworks. We used multilev...区域空间尺度是将研究结果从局地尺度合理外推至大陆尺度，以解决大范围环境问题的关键纽带。生态系统状态的区域间差异通常通过区域化框架（如生态区分类）予以解析。目前极少有研究针对生态系统状态表征变量对不同区域化框架开展对比检验，也未对区域化框架与其定义变量间的内在关联进行评估。本研究提出两个核心问题：（1）生态系统的区域间差异程度如何，且该差异是否因区域化框架的不同而存在差异？（2）造成此种区域间差异的潜在成因是什么？本研究采用一套涵盖湖泊水化学数据、单尺度与多尺度水文地貌及人为驱动因子变量的大型数据集开展案例研究，这些变量可能在次大陆尺度上对湖泊化学特征产生影响，同时纳入7种现有区域化框架。本研究采用了多水平……