Challenges and Conceptual Approaches -- Ecosystem Function in Heterogeneous Landscapes -- Causes and Consequences of Spatial Heterogeneity in Ecosystem Function -- The Template: Patterns and Processes of Spatial Variation -- Thoughts on the Generation and Importance of Spatial Heterogeneity in Ecosystems and Landscapes -- Reciprocal Cause and Effect Between Environmental Heterogeneity and Transport Processes -- Perspectives from Different Disciplines -- Population Ecology in Spatially Heterogeneous Environments -- Heterogeneity in Hydrologic Processes: A Terrestrial Hydrologic Modeling Perspective -- Spatial Heterogeneity in Infectious Disease Epidemics -- Spatial Heterogeneity and Its Relation to Processes in the Upper Ocean -- Illustrations of Heterogeneity and Ecosystem Function -- Heterogeneity in Arid and Semiarid Lands -- Formation of Soil-Vegetation Patterns -- Spatial Patterning of Soil Carbon Storage Across Boreal Landscapes -- Heterogeneity in Urban Ecosystems: Patterns and Process -- Origins, Patterns, and Importance of Heterogeneity in Riparian Systems -- Flowpaths as Integrators of Heterogeneity in Streams and Landscapes -- Causes and Consequences of Spatial Heterogeneity in Lakes -- Application of Frameworks and Concepts -- The Importance of Multiscale Spatial Heterogeneity in Wildland Fire Management and Research -- The Role of Spatial Heterogeneity in the Management of Freshwater Resources -- The Roles of Spatial Heterogeneity and Ecological Processes in Conservation Planning -- Synthesis -- Challenges in Understanding the Functions of Ecological Heterogeneity -- Spatial Pattern and Ecosystem Function: Reflections on Current Knowledge and Future Directions -- Spatial Heterogeneity: Past, Present, and Future -- Heterogeneity and Ecosystem Function: Enhancing Ecological Understanding and Applications -- Conceptual Frameworks: Plan for a Half-Built House. The study of ecosystems, fundamental to ecology, has been complemented by the growing field of landscape ecology. Ecosystem Function in Heterogeneous Landscapes addresses how interactions among ecosystems affect the functioning of individual ecosystems and the larger landscape. This groundbreaking synthesis unites ecosystem ecology's knowledge of system function with landscape ecology's knowledge of spatial structure. Practical concerns about scaling up from individual ecosystems to larger landscapes require an understanding of how networks of interacting ecosystems function together. The book elucidates the challenges faced by ecosystem scientists working in spatially heterogeneous systems, relevant conceptual approaches used in other disciplines and in different ecosystem types, and the importance of spatial heterogeneity in conservation resource management. The distinguished authors discuss how how much heterogeneity needs to be taken into account for specific types of scientific and management issues. Their chapters cover the spectrum from proposing novel conceptual approaches to detailing the practical implications of heterogeneous landscapes for fire management, water management and conservation planning.