[Taxacom] Macroslope

[Neil Bell]

Hi all,

I notice that "microslope" also has some hits in google.

Extrapolating from context, it seems that "macroslope" is used to mean 
variation in elevation over a large area (i.e. at a course resolution), 
while "microslope" is over a small area or at a fine resolution, i.e. 
they are aspects of topography at different scales. Perhaps the 
important thing is that a given point could exist on a macroslope of one 
gradient and a microslope of another, and that both of these could be 
independently significant?

I also wondered at first whether macro/micro could refer to magnitude of 
gradient, but this doesn't seem to be how the words are used.

Neil.



Alex Borisenko wrote:
> Hi Robin,
>
> The term 'macroslope' (in its Russian form - "макросклон") is actively 
> used in Russian biogeographic literature in the meaning you had 
> outlined, although there seem to be no 'official' definitions for it in 
> any specialized Russain dictionaries (at least online), which is odd.
> Occurrences of the English word that I was able to confirm seem to 
> originate from papers written by Russian authors, so I do not know if 
> this qualifies as 'legitimate' usage. That said, this is a convenient 
> way to define parts of large mountain systems with a certain aspect, so 
> maybe it is about time to introduce the term anyway...
>
> Best wishes,
> Alex
>
>
> Robin Leech wrote:
>   
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I found a Russian Geology paper that uses the word "macroslope".
>>
>> Volodicheva, Natalya. [no date]  #15.  The Caucasus, p. 350-376, illust.
>>     IN: Maria Shahgedanova (ed.). The Physical Geography of Northern 
>> Eurasia.
>>
>> The text mentioned above is at least 1998, and "macroslope" is used but not
>> defined.
>>
>> Robin
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Frederick W Schueler" <bckcdb at istar.ca>
>> Cc: <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
>> Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2008 2:46 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Macroslope
>>
>>
>>   
>>     
>>> Kleo Pullin wrote:
>>>
>>>     
>>>       
>>>> A while ago I came across this word in a beautiful book about Siberian 
>>>> tigers.  The book is, "Riding the Tiger: Tiger Conservation in 
>>>> Human-Dominated Landscapes," edited by Richard Burge, John Seidensticker, 
>>>> Sarah Christie, Peter Jackson.   John Seidensticker is a big cat 
>>>> conservationist at the Smithsonian and might know the word or know which 
>>>> of the Russian authors of the papers to ask.
>>>>
>>>>       
>>>>         
>>> * google gives 1080 hits, in many of which it's used as if it were a
>>> routine English word.
>>>
>>> fred.
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>             Bishops Mills Natural History Centre
>>>           Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
>>>        RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
>>>     on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
>>>       (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
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>>>     
>>>       
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>>   
>>     
>
>   


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Neil E. Bell
Postdoctoral Researcher
(Bryophyte Systematics)
 
Kasvimuseo
PO Box 7
00014 University of Helsinki
FINLAND
 
+358 9 191 24463
neil.bell at helsinki.fi
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~