Landscapes

Landscape Perspective

How the ecological world works on a large scale How

does the spatial arrangement of habitats impact the
distribution and abundance of species?
How do landscape patterns affect ecosystem
processes?
Landscape planning & land use issues in regional
development and conservation.
 Landscape Ecology-Background
Ecology gradually became to follow a narrow path, which made it
less equipped to present the holistic outlook that had
characteristically enabled ecology to deal with the totality of nature.
Landscape ecology was developed to fulfill this void.
Landscape ecology operates within a holistic frame work,
understanding wholes or systems for eg. Regions with multiple
ecosystems. (similar to macro ecology)
Differs from traditional ecology in that it focuses on land or
landscape as an object.
Recognizes the dynamic role of man as a central component of
landscape.
Normal ecology studies homogeneous community units such as
species or population or community within one kind of habitat type.
Landscape ecology studies these in various interconnecting
habitats. Frequently, habitat variation is anthropogenic and
continuing.
Relationship to ecological theory
Landscape ecology theory may be slightly outside of the
classical and preferred domain of scientific disciplines
because of the large, heterogeneous areas of study.
However, general ecology theory is central to landscape
ecology theory in many aspects.
Landscape ecology consists of four main principles: the
development and dynamics of spatial heterogeneity,
interactions and exchanges across heterogeneous
landscapes, influences of spatial heterogeneity on biotic
and abiotic processes, and the management of spatial
heterogeneity.
The main difference from traditional ecological studies,
which frequently assume that systems are spatially
homogenous, is the consideration of spatial patterns.
 Landscape Ecology-Background
Two important aspects of landscape ecology distinguish
it from other subdisciplines within ecology.
First, landscape ecology explicitly addresses the
importance of spatial configuration for ecological
processes. Not only is landscape ecology concerned
with how much there is of a particular component but
also with how it is arranged.
Second, landscape ecology often focuses upon
spatial extents that are much larger than those
traditionally studied in ecology. Landscape ecology
offers new concepts, theory and methods that are
revealing the importance of spatial patterning on the
dynamics of interacting ecosystems.
http://ravel.zoology.wisc.edu/mgt/ (Monica G. Turner)
 Landscape Ecology-Definition

Addresses the causes and consequences

of spatial heterogeneity (Urban et al.
1987, Forman 1995, Turner er al. 2001).
Landscape ecology is a branch of modern
ecology that deals with inter-relationships
between man and his open and built-up
landscapes (Forman and Godran, 1986)
Landscape ecologys subject matter is the
landscape, its form function and genesis
(Zonneveld and Forman, 1990)
Landscape Ecology-Explanation
The ecology of regions
Study of how ecosystems are arranged spatially and how
this arrangement affects biotic and abiotic components and
processes
Integrated discipline that incorporates the knowledge of
ecological systems at all levels to address large- scale
issues of ecology, and land use / land planning
A marriage of ecology and geography.

Windward Mauna Kea Landscape

Landscape Ecology-Explanation
Landscape ecology---the ecology of landscapes,
regions, or other large heterogeneous areas---is the
study of how landscape patterns influence the
processes that determine the abundance and
distribution of plants and animals. ( i.e.. Assesses how
habitat integrity, patchiness, fragmentation, connectivity,
etc. affect population viability.)
Landscape ecology emphasizes heterogeneity as a
method to promote stability in an ecosystem.
Heterogeneity increases types of resistances to
catastrophes through genetic diversity, habitat diversity,
and strain of species distribution.
Heterogeneity is the measure of how different parts of a
landscape are from one another.
Landscape Ecology-Explanation
Landscape ecology looks at how this spatial structure
affects organism abundance at the landscape level, as
well as the behavior and functioning of the landscape as
a whole. This includes studying the influence of pattern,
or the internal order of a landscape, on process, or the
continuous operation of functions of organisms.
Landscape ecology always understands that systems
change and are hierarchical (i.e. one large is composed
of many small in turn composed of smaller units of
similar structure but varying function (different streams
in a valley of many in a forest).
Landscape ecology also includes geomorphology as
applied to the design and architecture of landscapes
Is a direct response to decline in biodiversity and
biological productivity as a result of habitat and
The term landscape ecology was coined by Carl Troll, a
German geographer, in 1939. He developed this
terminology and many early concepts of landscape ecology
as part of his early work, which consisted of applying aerial
photographic interpretation to studies of interactions
between environment and vegetation.
 History
One central landscape
ecology theory
originated from
MacArthur & Wilson's
The Theory of Island
Biogeography. This
work considered the
biodiversity on islands
as the result of
competing forces of
colonization from a
mainland stock and
stochastic extinction.
The concepts of island
biogeography were
(MacArthur and Wilson generalized from
1967) physical islands to
abstract patches of
habitat by Levins'
metapopulation model.
 History
This generalization spurred the growth of
landscape ecology by providing conservation
biologists a new tool to assess how habitat
fragmentation affects population viability.
Recent growth of landscape ecology owes
much to the development of geographic
information systems (GIS) and the availability of
large-extent habitat data (e.g. remotely sensed
datasets).
 Development as a discipline
Landscape ecology developed in Europe from historical
planning on human-dominated landscapes.
Concepts from general ecology theory were integrated
in North America. While general ecology theory and its
sub-disciplines focused on the study of more
homogenous, discrete community units organized in a
hierarchical structure (typically as ecosystems,
populations, species, and communities), landscape
ecology built upon heterogeneity in space and time.
It frequently included human-caused landscape
changes in theory and application of concepts.
 Important terms in Landscape
ecology
Landscape ecology not only created new
terms, but also incorporated existing
ecological terms in new ways. Many of
the terms used in landscape ecology are
as interconnected and interrelated as the
discipline itself. Landscape can be
defined as an area containing two or
more ecosystems in close proximity.
 TERMS USED IN LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY

Landscape
Scale
Patch
- size, number, shape, location
Mosaics
network, fragmentation, pattern, scale
Edges and Boundaries
- structure, shape
Corridors and Connectivity
- pathways, barriers
 Landscape
Landscape is a heterogeneous region consisting of 2 or
more interacting ecosystems (2 landscapes = region)
that exchange organisms, energy, water, nutrients, etc.
Mosaics of habitat patches of varying sizes and shapes,
Patches, edges, and connectivity (corridors and
barriers)
Landscapes have several types of patches, the most
common = matrix
 Scale and heterogeneity (incorporating composition,
structure, and function)
Scale represents the real world as
translated onto a map, relating distance
on a map image and the corresponding
distance on earth.
Scale is also the spatial or temporal
measure of an object or a process, or
amount of spatial resolution.
Components of scale include
composition, structure, and function
 Composition, Structure & Function
composition refers to the number of patch types
represented on a landscape and their relative
abundance.
For example, the amount of forest or wetland, the length
of forest edge, or the density of roads can be aspects of
landscape composition.
Structure is determined by the composition, the
configuration, and the proportion of different patches
across the landscape
function refers to how each element in the landscape
interacts based on its life cycle events. Pattern is the
term for the contents and internal order of a
heterogeneous area of land.
A landscape with structure and pattern implies that it
has spatial heterogeneity, or the uneven distribution of
objects across the landscape.
 PATCH
Patch, a term fundamental to
landscape ecology, is defined as
a relatively homogeneous area
that differs from its surroundings.
Patches are the basic unit of the
landscape that change and
fluctuate, a process called patch
dynamics.
Patches have a definite shape
and spatial configuration, and can
be described compositionally by
internal variables such as number
of trees, number of tree species,
height of trees, or other similar
measurements.
 PATCH

All patches have edges

Edges have abiotic environments that are different from
the interior of a patch differences in biota & processes
The larger a patch, the more interior (core) it contains
 Edges and Boundaries
Landscape patch boundaries can be definite or
fuzzy.
Zones composed of edges of adjacent
ecosystems are called as a boundary.
Edge is a perimeter, where the influence of the
adjacent patches cause an environmental
difference between interior of the patch and its
edge
 Types of boundaries
Ecotone: Transitional zone between two
communities or ecosystems.
Ecoline: A gradual or continuous conditions
containing heterogenous communities which
are considered more env, stable that those of
Ecotones.
Ecotope: Spatial term representing the smallest
ecologically distinct unit in mapping and
classification of landscapes. Relatively
homogenous and are spatially explicit
landscapes.
CORRIDORS

CorridorsProvide
connections between
patches of the same or
different types
Facilitate the movement of
organisms
Barriers to species
movements
 Corridors and Connectivity
Connectivity is the measure of how
connected or spatially continuous
a corridor, network, or matrix is.
For example, a forested landscape
(matrix) with fewer gaps in forest
cover (open patches) will have
higher connectivity.
Corridors have important functions
as strips of a particular type of
landscape differing from adjacent
land on both sides.
 Matrix, Network, and Mosaic
Matrix is the background ecological
system of a landscape with a high
degree of connectivity.
Network is an interconnected system of
corridors .
Mosaic describes the pattern of patches,
corridors and matrix that form a
landscape in its entirety.
Mosaics
 The spatial pattern or structure of a landscape
is a mosaic made up of three universal
elements: patch, corridor and matrix. The
composition and configuration of those habitat
elements in turn control the movement of
animals, plants, water, soil, and energy through
that landscape. Studying those elements also
provides a basis for comparing dissimilar
landscapes and for developing general
concepts about how landscapes operate over
space and time.
Disturbance and Fragmentation
Disturbance: an event
that alters the process
of change or stability
of a patch or a mosaic
of patches.
Fragmentation: The
cutting and breaking
up of a large patch
into many smaller
ones separated by a
new and different kind
of patch.