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Complex physical geography (landscape geography) is a science of the structure of the natural environment treated as a whole composed of interconnected and interacting components. The research object of complex physical geography is the Earth's surface understood as a three-dimensional layer including lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere as well as the biosphere which develops within the former three. Among different terms employed to define the external cover of the earth the best one seems to be epigeosphere (A.G. Isachenko 1965). Landscape as a scientific term is ambiguous and can be well rep laced with the term geocomplex. Geocomplex is a relatively closed sector Of nature which constitutes a whole due to the processes occuring within it and interdependences of geocomponents of which it is composed (H. Barsch 1968). There are homogeneous (topological) and heterogeneous (chorological) geocomplexes. Every geocomplex is characterized by its structure and manner of functioning. The objective existence of geocomplexes cannot be doubted.

The development of the concept of an areal natural unit as a result of the needs of the economic practice and the popularisation of the general systems theory. Ecosystems and geosystems. Hierarchy of the natural system. Topological and chorological units. The issue of a universal natural unit. Applications. The influence of the concept under discussion on the development of the integrated research on the natural environement.

In geography there are at least two fundamental approaches to landscape classification. The first is physicogeographical, the other geochemical. Theoretically, the classification is also possible on the basis of physical features-• this is the field called landscape geophysics. So far, however, only attempts have been made in this area which have not produced a homogeneous and consistent system of classification. The geochemical-landscape trend developed in the USSR, in other countries is followed only in some centres although chemical methods have been used for a long time and commonly in specific physicogeographical studies, for instance in studies on soils and water. In Poland the Soviet classification scheme is used. The scheme has been developed by A. Perelman and M. Glazovska, with reference to B. Polynov's idea (Perelman 1966). The taxonomic classification of geochemical landscape is as follows: Category of landscapes (abiogenic landscapes and biogenic landscapes); Group of landscapes (forest, meadow and steppe, tundra and desert landscapes); Type of landscapes distinguished on the basis of biomass and chemical composition (for instance: various types of taiga landscape and landscapes of temperate zone forests); Family of landscapes indentified on the basis of differentatied live matter production within a type (for instance: northern, middle, southern taiga or a similar division of tundra or steppes and deserts); Class of landscapes that is a division on the basis of typomorhic elements and water migration ions (hydrogen class-H, calcium class-Ca, hydrogen with iron class-H-Fe and others);

At present, geoecology-related discussions are focused on the ability to provide systematic and universal landscape description in a variety of space and time scales, as well as in different functional systems. This requires the development of landscape schemes in the form of hierarchical structural and functional systems. This paper has therefore focused on concepts of crucial importance for landscape system description, such as scale, spatial range and structure and landscape functioning. The definition of these concepts and their characteristics are crucial for the ability to describe a landscape system, in terms of its structural and functional composition and valuation, as well as assessment of landscape and ecosystem functions and services. Therefore, the analysis allows a demonstration of approaches discussed in the subject literature and the authors' opinions.