known as multifractal. Thus, through the examination of multifractal measures,
subtle differences in spatial and size structure can be explored. Fine-scale patterns
embedded within coarser patterns apparently reflect ecological processes operat-
ing across a wide size spectrum and spatial scales, such as the resource utilization
among invertebrate species in streams. The fact that multifractals can mirror
compound phenomena may prove increasingly useful in the characterization,
modelling and understanding of complex phenomena in ecology.Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by grants from NERC (NER/A/S/2001/00566), the
Royal Society, and in parts from the Austrian Science Fund FWF: P15597-B03.
We thank Dr Luı ́s Borda-de-A ́gua and an anonymous reviewer for valuable com-
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