上海城市热岛效应形成机制及空间格局

城市热岛效应的产生及演变与城市地表覆被变化、人类社会经济活动密切相关,是城市生态环境状况的综合概括与体现,目前对城市热岛形成、演变的驱动机制、热岛效应与地表覆被变化的定量关系研究大多还是从对某些影响因子的测定入手,缺乏对区域热环境系统全面、综合的评价与分析.近年来,在城市化过程中,人类社会、经济活动的加剧使城市地表热力景观呈现出高度的空间异质性,在利用Landsat 7 ETM+热波段数据反演上海地区地表温度的基础上,应用地统计学方法揭示了不同尺度下上海城市地表温度场空间变异特征及其不同的驱动因子.进而,采用决策树方法构造城市热环境系统的分类和预测模型,建立中心城区地表温度场空间分布及其驱动因素之间的定量关系,挖掘上海城市热岛效应的形成机制,揭示出多种影响因素综合作用下中心城区热环境空间格局差异.研究结果表明,城市热环境形成的驱动因子在空间上呈现出明显的分异性特征,各种影响因素在空间上不同的组合方式将决定城市热岛效应的时空演变趋势.运用决策树方法可以有效地确定在城市内部不同区域影响热环境形成的主导因素,揭示城市热岛形成与演变的成因机制及其空间差异,并可以进一步用来预测分析未来城市地表温度场动态变化的空间分布格局.     

上海市城市土地利用景观的空间尺度效应

在RS与GIS技术支持下,基于2002年上海市5m分辨率的SPOT遥感影像和上海城市土地利用的景观类型,定量分析了几种常用景观格局指数随尺度的变化规律．结果表明：上海市土地利用景观格局指数对粒度和幅度变化都很敏感,景观格局具有明显的尺度依赖性,不同指数对尺度的响应特征不同;40m分辨率是上海城市土地利用景观的本征观测尺度,小于这个尺度范围往往表现出随机性特征;24km的幅度是一个特征操作尺度,与上海市建成区与非建成区边界的范围相吻合,说明对于上海城市景观而言,距离城市中心12km的幅度可能是一个本征的操作尺度;上海市城市结构的复杂性和城市空间扩展的不对称性,说明上海城市景观格局的本征操作尺度并不是一个规则的形状,24km的正方形范围仅是一个近似的操作尺度．     

人为热计算方法的研究综述

近年来随着全球大都市的快速发展,热岛效应成为城市环境的严峻问题.人类活动日益增加的排热会显著改变城市热环境,从而加剧城市热岛效应的恶化.不同气候区、不同尺度的人为热排放特征不同,因此,其时空变化使人为热的计算变得复杂和不确定.本文通过对国内外人为热的不同计算方法结合实例进行综述,总结了其时空尺度、所需的基础数据及误差来源等,最后讨论了不同方法的优缺点并提出改良方向.建议人为热研究需要首先考虑时空尺度,并据此选择合适的计算方法以保障精度.人为热的计算有助于学者更好地理解研究区的排热状况,并通过合理的城市规划改善人居热环境.     

城市热岛效应与景观格局的关联:从城市规模、景观组分到空间构型

景观格局的改变被视为城市热岛形成的直接原因,但景观格局指标与热岛效应的关联机理仍未厘清。城市规模、景观组分、空间构型作为景观格局的重要表征指标,对热岛效应的影响体现了从整体到局部、从数量到空间的递进关系。其中,城市规模与热岛效应的关联存在地带性规律;景观组分与热岛效应的相关性受昼夜、季节控制;显著驱动热岛效应的关键空间构型指标仍有待遴选。景观格局与热岛效应的非线性关联可能存在拐点,拐点前后对应不一致的因子驱动强度。科学界定城市规模、景观组分、空间构型等景观格局要素显著影响热岛效应的阈值区间,有助于明晰缓解城市热岛效应的关键景观生态途径。     

不同尺度下城市景观综合指数的空间变异特征研究

在GIS与RS技术支持下,采用5 m分辨率的SPOT遥感图像数据,从城市土地利用角度,利用半变异函数对不同尺度的景观多样性、聚集度与分维数的空间变异进行了定量分析.结果表明,不同尺度下3种指数的空间变异具有相似特征,各个尺度上都具有空间依赖性,尺度越小,空间依赖性越大,空间变异的细节更显著,空间自相关性对总体变异的贡献逐渐增加,但尺度过小,有时会破坏景观内部结构.不同指数的半变异函数模型在相同尺度上差异显著,说明不同景观指数在不同尺度下的半变异函数模型不具可比性.就研究上海市内部土地利用结构而言,1 km的幅度是较合适的空间尺度.景观指数空间变异特征是尺度的函数,尺度对景观格局的影响不能忽视.景观综合指数对尺度响应的生态过程揭示了上海城市空间结构的规律性:在小尺度上的复杂无规律性,中尺度上的多中心性和大尺度上的圈层结构性,但各个尺度是相互依赖的,没有绝对界限.     

粒度变化对城市热岛空间格局分析的影响

尺度是景观格局和生态过程研究中的关键问题。综合目前城市热岛效应研究来看,景观格局指数的引入极大推进了热岛格局的定量研究,然而其尺度效应仍未得到重视。由于热岛空间格局与形成过程的复杂性和人类认识的局限性,对其尺度问题有待深入讨论。基于Landsat TM影像反演地表温度,采用均值-标准差分类方法划分热力等级,对珠三角城市热岛格局特征的粒度效应进行了研究。结果显示:随粒度增加,弱势热力斑块类型下降,向相邻斑块转移;景观指数在类型水平和景观水平均受空间粒度影响明显,"临界粒度"现象明显;总体而言,粒度150 m是城市热岛格局特征的临界粒度,对热岛格局进行景观指数计算的适宜粒度范围为30—150 m;不同景观指数粒度效应曲线有所差异,其中斑块密度和平均分维数在两个水平指数上都有较强的规律性;根据各景观指数变化特征,研究区尺度域主要在(30 m,150 m),表明在该尺度范围内构建的热岛效应预测模型可经简单推绎后使用。分析热岛格局随空间粒度变化特征对了解热岛格局的形成机制及进行尺度推绎具有重要意义。     

Multi-Scale Identification of Urban Landscape Structure Based on Two-Dimensional Wavelet Analysis: The Case of Metropolitan Beijing,China

Scale dependence is one of the major characteristics of landscape. Urban landscape is highly affected by human activities with a multi-scale structure, which makes the multi-scale identification of urban structure an obligation for urban spatial studies. Although there have been many previous studies on urban landscape structure, most of them have been conducted on a single scale, and the multi-scale effects of landscape patterns were rarely involved. Two-dimensional wavelet transforms can link spatial structures to scale and spatial locations, and maybe an effective method for the multi-scale analysis of landscape. In this paper, we applied two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform and wavelet variance to analyze the multi-scale spatial structure characteristics and the nested hierarchical structure of the metropolitan Beijing area. The results indicated that the spatial distribution and configuration of the patches were highly scattered at small scales, and the urban landscape exhibited a relatively complicated structure. At medium scales, a combination of the polycentric and sectorial structure was identified due to the prominence of dominant patches within each administrative district. At larger scales, the urban landscape pattern exhibits typical concentric ring characteristics. Two characteristic scales were detected by the wavelet variance in the south-north direction of the main urban zones, scale 4 (112m) and 8 (1792m) in Dongcheng District, scale 3 (56m) and 6 (448m) in Xicheng District, which were corresponding to the extent of middle-small blocks and large blocks respectively. One characteristic scale was detected in each of the suburb areas (Chaoyang, Haidian, and Fengtai District). The spatial structure of the main urban zones is more complex than that of the suburb areas, and it presents a typical hierarchical structure in the south-north direction. In general, the spatial structure of Beijing metropolitan area appears polycentric and concentric ring structure at large scales, the main urban area has nested hierarchies at different characteristic scales, and the wavelet method can effectively identify multi-scale characteristics of urban spatial structure.     

广州城市热岛空间分布及时域－频域多尺度变化特征

利用广州47个自动气象站小时数据计算2001年1、4、7和10月各站平均热岛强度,用克里格方法研究广州城市热岛的空间变化,发现其受下垫面、人为热、大气污染、天气系统等影响较大.利用2001年—2002年2月每小时气象数据,用Morlet小波变换方法分析广州热岛周期变化,发现其在频域上具有多尺度的周期振荡,尺度主要是24、168和1 490 h,即日、周、2个月,其次是3个月. 海陆风、下垫面长波辐射、人为热、近地层热量交换等影响其日变化周期,人类活动影响其周变化周期,太阳辐射及天气系统影响其2个月变化周期,季风影响其3个月变化周期.研究表明,广州城市热岛时空变化是天气系统、地表长波辐射、下垫面、大气污染、人为热、地表热量交换等共同作用的结果.     

深圳特区表面温度空间分异特征

快速城市化和人口急剧膨胀产生的热岛效应,强烈影响着城市居民生活工作的舒适度,是一种环境恶化的表现。它不仅造成城市上空污染物质的聚集、降雨量的减少等各种环境问题,而且导致城市区域内动植物行为特征的改变。因此,有必要定量分析城市的热岛效应,寻找出合理的植被配置状态减少负面影响。利用遥感数据,以我国第一个经济特区也是第一个在总体规划下创立的城市深圳特区为研究区域,采用曲面分形维数、空间自相关方法研究了深圳特区当前植被配置状态下的热岛效应空间特征表达、主要驱动力和方向性问题。结果表明：城市热岛效应显著,与道路主干道相一致,最高温度312．97K,最低温度285．80K;特区在东西向、南北向两个方向分别受到了城市扩展和地形约束的影响,呈现出明显的热岛效应梯度;存在4个主要的高温区块,冷岛的面积也较大;曲面分形、空间自相关和温度变幅揭示出福田区仍然是特区城市化和人工干扰最强烈的区域,土地利用破碎化严重,不同温度斑块呈离散分布,而盐田区由于区域发展政策和绿地建设不完善的原因呈现出较严重的连片高温区,表明城市植被分布位置在有效减少连片高温区域出现以及随之带来的巨大危害方面的效能要强于面积;各方向的剖面变化和样带的曲面与空间自相关分析揭示出不同方向的人工干扰和城市化影响,同时可以反映出一定的能流物流的通道。今后利用更高分辨率的红外遥感数据和地面物体高程数据可在城市表层不连续特征下更准确地计算表面温度,为城市能量流动和动态模拟提供支持。     

大城市边缘区景观破碎化空间异质性——以北京市顺义区为例

探索大城市边缘区景观破碎化格局及其空间异质性特征,有助于把握景观动态的变化机制及其生态问题.以北京市顺义区这一典型大城市边缘区为例,基于土地利用分类数据,采用有效粒度尺寸方法,对1992年、1999年和2009年景观破碎化空间变异进行了地统计学分析,主要包括尺度依赖性、空间异质性、空间格局及其生态过程的分析.研究结果表明:1)景观破碎化空间变异具有明显的尺度依赖性特征,由空间自相关部分引起的空间异质性较高;1992年和1999年景观破碎化空间总变异相对缓和,2009年空间总变异强烈;通过不同尺度上的异质性对比,选取1000m幅度作为研究区景观破碎化的空间异质性分析较为适宜.2)景观破碎化空间异质性表现出明显的上升趋势,土地利用斑块破碎化不断加剧,其中1999-2009年间的表现尤为强烈.3)景观破碎化高值区呈现出由东部向西部转移的态势,并且其空间布局具有集聚性与分散性的显著特征,空间上相似属性聚集与相异属性聚集的空间格局十分突出.4)景观破碎化空间自相关作用主要来自高强度社会经济活动的影响,并表现出明显的区位特征.该研究结果可为土地、城镇规划以及景观生态建设提供参考.     

Effect of urban function and landscape structure on the urban heat island phenomenon in Beijing,China

Rapid urbanization has aggravated the urban thermal risk and highlighted the urban heat island (UHI) effect. To improve understanding on the effect of urbanization on the UHI effect, it is essential to determine the relationship between the UHI effect and the complexities of urban function and landscape structure. For this purpose, 5116 urban function zones (UFZs), representing the basic function units of urban planning, were identified in Beijing. Land cover and land surface temperature (LST) values were extracted based on remote sensing data. UFZ, land cover, and LST were used to represent the urban function, landscape, and UHI characteristics, respectively. Then, the effects of urban function and landscape structure on the UHI effect were examined. The results indicated that the urban thermal environment exhibited obvious spatiotemporal heterogeneity due to the variation of urban function and landscape complexity: (1) UFZs showed significantly different LST characteristics for different functions and seasons, and the mean LST gap among different types of UFZ can reach 1.72–3.85 °C. (2) During warm seasons, the UHI region is mainly composed of residential, industrial, and commercial zones, while recreational zones contribute as an important UHI source region during cold seasons. (3) Urban developed land and forest are the most important landscape factors contributing to the UFZ effect in the urban thermal environment. These findings have useful implications for urban landscape zoning to mitigate the UHI effect.

     

Spatial Scaling Effects on Soil Bacterial Communities in Malaysian Tropical Forests

Spatial scaling to some extent determines biodiversity patterns in larger organisms, but its role in microbial diversity patterns is much less understood. Some studies have shown that bacterial community similarity decreases with distance, whereas others do not support this. Here, we studied soil bacterial communities of tropical rainforest in Malaysia at two spatial scales: a local scale with samples spaced every 5 m over a 150-m transect, and a regional scale with samples 1 to 1,800 km apart. PCR-amplified soil DNA for the bacterial 16S rRNA gene targeting the V1–V3 region was pyrosequenced using Roche/454 GS FLX Titanium platform. A ranked partial Mantel test showed a weak correlation between spatial distance and whole bacterial community dissimilarity, but only at the local scale. In contrast, environmental distance was highly correlated with community dissimilarity at both spatial scales, stressing the greater role of environmental variables rather than spatial distance in determining bacterial community variation at different spatial scales. Soil pH was the only environmental parameter that significantly explained the variance in bacterial community at the local scale, whereas total nitrogen and elevation were additional important factors at the regional scale. We obtained similar results at both scales when only the most abundant OTUs were analyzed. A variance partitioning analysis showed that environmental variables contributed more to bacterial community variation than spatial distance at both scales. In total, our results support a strong influence of the environment in determining bacterial community composition in the rainforests of Malaysia. However, it is possible that the remaining spatial distance effect is due to some of the myriad of other environmental factors which were not considered here, rather than dispersal limitation.     

The urban heat island and its impact on heat waves and human health in Shanghai

With global warming forecast to continue into the foreseeable future, heat waves are very likely to increase in both frequency and intensity. In urban regions, these future heat waves will be exacerbated by the urban heat island effect, and will have the potential to negatively influence the health and welfare of urban residents. In order to investigate the health effects of the urban heat island (UHI) in Shanghai, China, 30 years of meteorological records (1975–2004) were examined for 11 first- and second-order weather stations in and around Shanghai. Additionally, automatic weather observation data recorded in recent years as well as daily all-cause summer mortality counts in 11 urban, suburban, and exurban regions (1998–2004) in Shanghai have been used. The results show that different sites (city center or surroundings) have experienced different degrees of warming as a result of increasing urbanization. In turn, this has resulted in a more extensive urban heat island effect, causing additional hot days and heat waves in urban regions compared to rural locales. An examination of summer mortality rates in and around Shanghai yields heightened heat-related mortality in urban regions, and we conclude that the UHI is directly responsible, acting to worsen the adverse health effects from exposure to extreme thermal conditions.     

长沙市热力景观空间格局演变分析

城市热环境是城市生态环境效应研究的热点之一,其演变规律的研究为缓解城市热岛带来的负效应、促进城市可持续发展提供依据。以2004年和2010年Landsat7 ETM+遥感影像数据和土地利用现状数据为数据源,在地表亮度温度反演的基础上,运用景观指数并结合GIS空间分析技术,采用移动窗口和梯度分析结合的方法,分析2004—2010年长沙市中心城区热环境的空间格局动态变化,通过分区统计法分析了不同热力景观等级下不同城市景观的空间格局变化,从景观尺度上阐明城市景观类型组成和空间格局与地表温度空间分异之间的关系。研究结果表明:2010年热岛区域扩大且更加分散,面积比2004年增加15.01km2,新增区域主要分布在金霞、岳麓和星沙的新兴工业园区;中心城区热力景观格局在景观水平上具有明显的空间分异特征,在从中心位置到偏北、偏东和偏南方向上,热力景观从市区向周边郊区呈现破碎化、多样性递增、形状复杂化,而从中心位置到偏西方向上与之相反;景观类型组成和空间布局对地表热环境产生不同影响,耕地、林地在热力景观内的优势度越大、分布越集中,地表降温效果越显著;反之,建设用地斑块越大、凝聚程度越高、形状越规整,地表温度越高,热岛效应显著。     

Disentangling environmental and spatial processes of community assembly in tropical forests from local to regional scales

Understanding patterns and mechanisms of variation in the compositional structure of communities across spatial scales is one of the fundamental challenges in ecology and biogeography. In this study, we evaluated the effects of spatial extent (i.e. size of study region) on: 1) whether community composition can be better explained by environmental (i.e. niche‐based) or spatial (e.g. dispersal‐based) processes ; and 2) how climate and soils contribute to the influence of environment on plant community composition. We surveyed community composition across a network of 398 forest plots spanning a ～4000 m elevational gradient in the Madidi region in northwestern Bolivia. Using redundancy analyses and hierarchical variation partitioning, we disentangled the effects of environmental and spatial predictors on species composition, further decomposing the environmental effect between its climatic and soil components. We repeated analyses for 200 sub‐regions ranging in spatial extent from ～250 to ～17 500 km². Our analyses show a high degree of idiosyncrasy in results that come from different sub‐regions. Despite this variability, we were able to identify various important patterns in the structure of tropical plant communities in our study system. First, even though sub‐regions varied in size by nearly two orders of magnitude, the total amount of explained variation in community composition was scale independent; at all spatial scales, environment and space accounted for about 25% of the differences in community composition among plots. Second, the measured environmental effect was higher than the spatial effect on average and in the vast majority of sub‐regions. This was true regardless of the spatial extent of analysis. Finally, we found that both climatic and soil variables accounted for significant fractions of variation, but climate was always more important than soils.     

Variability in patterns of growth and morphology of Posidonia oceanica exposed to urban and industrial wastes: contrasts with two reference locations

Urban and industrial wastes have been claimed to negatively affect Posidonia oceanica meadows, but few studies have addressed this issue by comparing disturbed locations with replicated reference locations. Here, we examined the general proposition that patterns of growth and morphology of P. oceanica exposed to urban and industrial effluents were different from those observed in reference meadows. Hypotheses were both on differences in mean values of response variables and on variation of these measures at a hierarchy of spatial scales (from centimetres to hundreds of metres). Results indicated a significant reduction in mean number of intermediate leaves at the outfall compared to reference locations, whereas the opposite pattern occurred for juvenile leaves. There were significant, though temporally variable differences in growth of rhizomes between disturbed and reference locations, with reduced growth at the outfall in 2 out of 3 years analysed. Measures of spatial variance in number of juvenile leaves and length of adult leaves at the scale of shoots were significantly larger at the outfall compared to reference locations. At the same scale, measures of spatial variance in length of juvenile and intermediate leaves were significantly lower at the putatively impacted location. Spatial variance in number of intermediate leaves was reduced at the outfall compared to reference locations at the scale of quadrats. Past values of spatial variance in number of leaves per shoot were lower at the outfall than at the two reference locations at the scale of shoots, whereas the opposite occurred at the scale of areas. None of the structural variables examined showed any difference between the putatively impacted location and the two reference locations, either in terms of mean response or as changes in spatial variance. These results indicated that integrating methods to examine present and past events of disturbance, including analyses to detect changes in spatial variance of response variables, may provide a powerful approach to the analysis of environmental impacts on P. oceanica.     

Litter decomposition across multiple spatial scales in stream networks

Spatial scale is a critical consideration for understanding ecological patterns and controls of ecological processes, yet very little is known about how rates of fundamental ecosystem processes vary across spatial scales. We assessed litter decomposition in stream networks whose inherent hierarchical nature makes them a suitable model system to evaluate variation in decay rates across multiple spatial scales. Our hypotheses were (1) that increasing spatial extent adds significant variability at each hierarchical level, and (2) that stream size is an important source of variability among streams. To test these hypotheses we let litter decompose in four riffles in each of twelve 3rd-order streams evenly distributed across four 4th-order watersheds, and in a second experiment determined variation in decomposition rate along a stream-size gradient ranging from orders 1 to 4. Differences in decay rates between coarse-mesh and fine-mesh litter bags accounted for much of the overall variability in the data sets, and were remarkably consistent across spatial scales and stream sizes. In particular, variation across watersheds was minor. Differences among streams and among riffles were statistically significant, though relatively small, leaving most of the total variance (51%) statistically unexplained. This result suggests that variability was generated mainly within riffles, decreasing successively with increasing scale. A broad range of physical and chemical attributes measured at the study sites explained little of the variance in decomposition rate. This, together with the strong mesh-size effect and greater variability among coarse-mesh bags, suggests that detritivores account, at least partly, for the unexplained variance. These findings contrast with the widespread perception that variability of ecosystem characteristics, including process rates, invariably increases (1) with spatial extent and (2), in stream networks, when analyses encompass headwaters of various size. An important practical implication is that natural variability need not compromise litter decomposition assays as a means of assessing functional ecosystem integrity. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

城市景观多样性的空间尺度分析——以上海市外环线以内区域为例

景观生态学研究的就是某一空间尺度范围内的景观格局与生态过程。因为景观格局与生态过程中存在的尺度多样性 ,导致尺度成为理解景观格局和生态过程相互作用的关键 ,其已经成为景观生态学的一个重要概念 ,但是由于理论和方法的限制 ,对景观生态学的尺度研究还不够 ,特别是景观格局综合性指标在不同幅度上的变化特征和效应。在 GIS与 RS技术支持下 ,采用基准分辨率为 5 m的 SPOT遥感图像作为数据源 ,对不同幅度下的城市景观多样性的空间分布格局进行了分析 ,并进一步利用半变异函数对其空间异质性进行定量描述。结论揭示 :随着空间尺度的增加 ,景观多样性程度也不断增加 ,另外多样性的空间分布格局也具有显著变化 ,由于受城市发展历史和目前城市扩展方向的影响 ,多样性在总体上是不平衡的 ,尺度越大 ,不平衡越明显 ;不同尺度下景观多样性空间格局的变化 ,与城市景观的特点和城市景观的功能息息相关 ,不过其受经济效益和社会文化效益的影响更大 ;随着尺度增加由于掩盖了更小尺度上的变异 ,导致块金效应增强 ,空间自相关部分对系统总的变异则明显下降 ;景观多样性具有尺度依赖性 ,可以说景观多样性也是尺度的函数 ,在不同的尺度上 ,结果差异显著 ,所以在景观生态学的研究中绝对不能忽略尺度对格局的影响     

Effects of Urbanization on Tree Species Functional Diversity in Eastern North America

Urban forests provide ecosystem services for millions of people. Numerous introductions have elevated tree species richness in cities, which may enhance functional diversity. However, few studies have examined changes in tree community composition or functional diversity with urbanization, even though functional diversity, and not species number per se, is directly linked with ecosystem function and associated services. We combined tree abundance data from both urban and extra-urban forest inventory plots for seven metropolitan areas in eastern North America to analyze changes in species composition, Shannon’s diversity, and functional diversity with urbanization. As expected, urban tree diversity was reduced at local scales, and the effect varied with land use. Rarefaction analysis indicated that at large scales, urban tree species pools were equal with respect to species or functional diversity compared to extra-urban forests, but in urban areas at small scales this diversity is not realized because of low tree density. Ordination revealed that with urbanization, introduced species increased in importance, and regional variation in species composition became more homogenous. Increasing tree density and/or tree cover through changes in management practices and urban design could facilitate local scale urban tree diversity using existing species pools, which are functionally diverse. Monitoring of forests at large spatial scales that include urban areas, and the use of methods that account for abundance and functional trait variation can provide insights into the effects of urbanization on tree diversity at multiple scales.     

Spatial scaling of ecosystem C and N in a subtropical savanna landscape

Widely occurred woody encroachment in grass‐dominated ecosystems has the potential to influence soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) pools at local, regional, and global scales. Evaluation of this potential requires assessment of both pool sizes and their spatial patterns. We quantified SOC and TN, their relationships with soil and vegetation attributes, and their spatial scaling along a catena (hill‐slope) gradient in the southern Great Plains, USA where woody cover has increased substantially over the past 100 years. Quadrat variance analysis revealed spatial variation in SOC and TN at two scales. The larger scale variation (40–45 m) was approximately the distance between centers of woody plant communities and their adjoining herbaceous patches. The smaller scale variation (10 m) appeared to reflect the local influence of shrubs on SOC and TN. Litter, root biomass, shrub, and tree basal area (a proxy for plant age) exhibited not only similar spatial scales, but also strong correlations with SOC and TN, suggesting invasive woody plants alter both the storage and spatial scaling of SOC and TN through ecological processes related primarily to root turnover and, to a lesser extent litter production, as mediated by time of occupancy. Forb and grass biomass were not significantly correlated with SOC and TN suggesting that changes in herbaceous vegetation have not been the driving force for the observed changes in SOC and TN. Because SOC and TN varied at two scales, it would be inappropriate to estimate SOC and TN pools at broad scales by extrapolating from point sampling at fine scales. Sampling designs that capture variation at multiple scales are required to estimate SOC and TN pools at broader scales. Knowledge of spatial scaling and correlations will be necessary to design field sampling protocols to quantify the biogeochemical consequences of woody plant encroachment at broad scales.