Abstract: With enormously increasing awareness and research emphasis on spatial heterogeneity, the study of patchiness and patch dynamics has become a major theme in both aquatic and terrestrial ecology.Patch dynamics represents not only a field of study,but a new emerging ecological paradigm as well. It represents a view that emphasizes spatial and temporal heterogeneity,non-equilibrium properties, hierarchical structure,and scale-dependence of ecological systems. A great challenge for ecologists is to relate spatial patterns to ecological processes and vice versa. Understanding the mechanisms of patchiness and patch dynamics provides a basis for achieving the above goal. This paper introduces basic concepts in patch dynamics,presents a conceptual framework for causes and mechanisms of patchiness, and develops some general aspects of patch dynamics based on hierarchy theory.

Key words: chlorothalonil,  Pseudomonas sp., bioremediation, affecting factor