As the recipient of a prestigous Presidential Young Investigator award, Dr. Bruce T. Milne, University of New Mexico, plans to test further the application of fractal geometry to modeling the complex distributions and interactions of species, resources, nutrients, and habitats. During the early part of the award, he will complete preparation of a co-authored book on new applications of fractal geometry in landscapes, with emphasis on: quintessential fractal approaches that are readily modified for many purposes; fractal statistical testing; renormalization theory that will allow apparently different landscapes to be understood in terms of critical phenomena which regulate the flows of species, disturbances, and pollutants; and diffusion in fractal environments. A second effort will be creation of the first fractal-based geographic information system (GIS). Because such a fractal- based GIS would automatically provide the scales at which multivariate relationships occur, it would be an invaluable tool for detecting ecological changes occurring at various scales for different phenomena. Such a system could motivate new field sampling and remote sensing techniques to accommodate the fractal nature of natural patterns, and could allow the linking of multi- temporal and multi-scale studies in a single system.
