An Index of Littoral Zone Complexity and Its Measurement

Abstract

The littoral zone is important in lake ecosystems. It affects physical, chemical, and biological processes of the whole lake. We first describe patterns in the shoreline lengths of a lake drawn from maps of different scales. Second, we show that these patterns or "measurement laws" hold for many different lakes. We then use "fractal" measuring theory to provide a unifying explanation of these empirical results. Fractal theory also makes new predictions about the statistical properties of groups of lakes. Patterns in our data were consistent with these predictions. Finally, we discuss how physical and geomorphological processes can give rise to fractal patterns in the landscape.Key words: fractal, geomorphology, littoral, morpho-edaphic index, shoreline development index