The '''physiotope''' is the total abiotic matrix of habitat present within any certain ecotope. 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kratochwil |first1=Anselm |title=Biodiversity in ecosystems: Principles and case studies of different complexity levels |chapter=Biodiversity in Ecosystems: Some Principles |series=Tasks for vegetation science |date=1999|volume=34 |pages=5–38 |doi=10.1007/978-94-011-4677-7_2 |isbn=978-1-4020-0280-9 }}</ref>
==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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Seijmonsbergen |first1=A.C. |title=The Luxembourg Gutland Landscape |chapter=Applications of Physiotope Mapping in the Cuesta Landscape of Luxembourg |date=2018 |pages=253–267|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-65543-7_11 |isbn=978-3-319-65541-3 |chapter-url=https://dare.uva.nl/personal/pure/en/publications/applications-of-physiotope-mapping-in-the-cuesta-landscape-of-luxembourg(23c43b82-131b-4ccc-941b-402f73d9a0c0).html }}</ref> In contrast to ecotopes, the physiotope does not include any definition of vegetation cover.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Klijn |first1=F |title=A hierarchical approach to ecosystems and its implications for ecological land classification |journal=Landscape Ecol |date=1994 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=89–104|doi=10.1007/BF00124376 |bibcode=1994LaEco...9...89K }}</ref> As such, resources used in mapping physiotopes strictly pertain to those implicated in the development and evolution of ''abiotic'' components of ecosystems.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parks |first1=KE |title=On the relationship between a resource based measure of geodiversity and broad scale biodiversity patterns. |journal=Biodivers Conserv |date=2010 |volume=19 |issue=9 |pages=2751–2766|doi=10.1007/s10531-010-9876-z |bibcode=2010BiCon..19.2751P }}</ref>
==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<ref>{{cite book |last1=Seijmonsbergen |first1=A.C. |title=The Luxembourg Gutland Landscape |chapter=Applications of Physiotope Mapping in the Cuesta Landscape of Luxembourg |date=2018 |pages=253–267|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-65543-7_11 |isbn=978-3-319-65541-3 |chapter-url=https://dare.uva.nl/personal/pure/en/publications/applications-of-physiotope-mapping-in-the-cuesta-landscape-of-luxembourg(23c43b82-131b-4ccc-941b-402f73d9a0c0).html }}</ref> and aquatic ecosystems.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hamer |first1=Kay |title=Loss of shallow water physiotope areas in tidal estuaries of the North Sea since the nineteenth century |journal=Physical and Biogeochemical Processes |date=2023 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=1037–1050|doi=10.1007/s11368-022-03413-7 |bibcode=2023JSoSe..23.1037H |doi-access=free }}</ref> They can also be used for analyzing land-use development in relation to geography for insights into policy implications.<ref>{{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 |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=470–488|doi=10.1080/02723646.2017.1318652 |bibcode=2017PhGeo..38..470S }}</ref>
==See also== * Ecological land classification
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Ecosystems Category:Ecology terminology Category:Habitat