Professor Hutchings is at the University of Sussex. Dr. Elizabeth John is at the University of Sussex. Dr. Alan Stewart is at the University of Sussex

• 1. The world is heterogeneous: ecological consequences of living in a patchy environment A. J. A. Stewart, E. A. John and M. J. Hutchings; 2. Ecological heterogeneity: an ontogeny of concepts and approaches J. A. Wiens; 3. Generation of heterogeneity by organisms: creation, maintenance and transformation S. T. A. Pickett, M. L. Cadenasso and C. G. Jones; 4. Heterogeneity, diversity and scale in plant communities S. D. Wilson; 5. Plant response to patchy soils A. Fitter, A. Hodge and D. Robinson; 6. The effects of heterogeneous nutrient supply on plant performance: a survey of responses, with special reference to clonal herbs M. J. Hutchings, D. K. Wijesinghe and E. A. John; 7. Plant competition in spatially heterogeneous environments B. B. Casper, J. F. Cahill Jr and R. B. Jackson; 8. Light heterogeneity in tropical rain forests: photosynthetic responses and their ecological consequences J. R. Watling and M. C. Press; 9. Heterogeneity in plant quality and its impact on the population ecology of insect herbivores M. D. Hunter, R. E. Forkner and J. N. McNeil; 10. Foraging ecology of animals in response to heterogeneous environments J. S. Brown; 11. Habitat heterogeneity and the behavioural and population ecology of host-parasitoid interactions H. C. J. Godfray, C. B. Müller and A. R. Kraaijeveld; 12. The effects of heterogeneity on dispersal and colonization in plants M. Rees, M. Mangel, L. Turnbull, A. Sheppard and D. Briese; 13. Genetic variation and adaptation in tree populations D. H. Boshier and M. R. Billingham; 14. Food webs and resource sheds: towards spatially delimiting trophic interactions M. E. Power and W. E. Rainey; 15. Habitat destruction and extinctions: predictions from metapopulation models C. Dytham; 16. Environmental heterogeneity and species survival in degraded tropical landscapes R. T. Corlett; 17. Ecological experiments in farmland conservation D. W. Macdonald, R. E. Feber, F. H. Tattersall and P. J. Johnson; 18. Environmental heterogeneity: the effects on plants in restoration ecology J. P. Bakker; 19. Concluding remarks: a review of some open questions J. H. Lawton.