Ecotope

Abstract: 1. Introduction to Landscape Ecology. What is Landscape Ecology? Why has Landscape Ecology Emerged as a Distinct Area of Study? The Intellectual Roots of Landscape Ecology. Objectives of this Book. Summary. 2. The Critical Concept of Scale. Scale Terminology and its Practical Application. Scale Problems. Scale Concepts and Hierarchy Theory. Identifying the 'Right' Scale(s). Reasoning about Scale. Scaling Up. Summary. 3. Introduction to Models. What's and Why's about Models. Steps in Building a Model. Landscape Models. Caveats in the Use of Models. Summary. 4. Causes of Landscape Pattern. Abiotic Causes of Landscape Pattern. Biotic Interactions. Human Land Use. Disturbance and Succession. Summary. 5. Quantifying Landscape Pattern. Why Quantify Pattern? Data used in Landscape Analyses. Caveats for Landscape Pattern Analysis, or 'READ THIS FIRST.' Metric for Quantifying Landscape Pattern. Geostatistics or Spatial Statistics. Summary. 6. Neutral Landscape Models. Random Maps: the Simplest Neutral Model. Maps with Hierarchical Structure. Fractal Landscapes. Neutral Models Relating Pattern to Process. General Insights from the Use of NLMs. Summary 7. Landscape Disturbance Dynamics. Disturbance and Disturbance Regimes. Influence of the Landscape on Disturbance Pattern. Influence of Disturbance on Landscape Pattern. Concepts of Landscape Equilibrium. Summary. 8. Organisms and Landscape Pattern. Conceptual Development of Organisms Space Interactions. Scale-dependent nature of organism responses. Effect of Spatial Pattern on Organisms. Spatially Explicit Population Models. Summary 9. Ecosystem Processes in the Landscape. Spatial Heterogeneity in Ecosystem Processes. Effects of Landscape Position on Lake Ecosystems. Land-water Interactions. Linking Species and Ecosystems. Searching for General Principles. Summary. 10. Applied Landscape Ecology. Land Use. Forest Management. Regional Risk Assessment. Continental-scale Monitoring. Summary. 11. Conclusions and Future Directions. What Have we Learned? Research directions. Conclusion. Literature cited. Index.

Abstract: 1. This review is presented as a broad synthesis of riverine landscape diversity, beginning with an account of the variety of landscape elements contained within river corridors. Landscape dynamics within river corridors are then examined in the context of landscape evolution, ecological succession and turnover rates of landscape elements. This is followed by an overview of the role of connectivity and ends with a riverine landscape perspective of biodiversity. 2. River corridors in the natural state are characterised by a diverse array of landscape elements, including surface waters (a gradient of lotic and lentic waterbodies), the fluvial stygoscape (alluvial aquifers), riparian systems (alluvial forests, marshes, meadows) and geomorphic features (bars and islands, ridges and swales, levees and terraces, fans and deltas, fringing floodplains, wood debris deposits and channel networks). 3. Fluvial action (erosion, transport, deposition) is the predominant agent of landscape evolution and also constitutes the natural disturbance regime primarily responsible for sustaining a high level of landscape diversity in river corridors. Although individual landscape features may exhibit high turnover, largely as a function of the interactions between fluvial dynamics and successional phenomena, their relative abundance in the river corridor tends to remain constant over ecological time. 4. Hydrological connectivity, the exchange of matter, energy and biota via the aqueous medium, plays a major though poorly understood role in sustaining riverine landscape diversity. Rigorous investigations of connectivity in diverse river systems should provide considerable insight into landscape-level functional processes. 5. The species pool in riverine landscapes is derived from terrestrial and aquatic communities inhabiting diverse lotic, lentic, riparian and groundwater habitats arrayed across spatio-temporal gradients. Natural disturbance regimes are responsible for both expanding the resource gradient in riverine landscapes as well as for constraining competitive exclusion. 6. Riverine landscapes provide an ideal setting for investigating how complex interactions between disturbance and productivity structure species diversity patterns.

Abstract: Landscape ecology deals with the effects of the spatial configuration of mosaics on a wide variety of ecological phenomena. Because problems in many areas of conservation biology and resource management are related to landscape use, development of a rigorous theoretical and empirical foundation for landscape ecology is essential. We present an approach to research that focuses on how individual-level mechanisms operating in a heterogeneous mosaic produce ecological patterns that are spatially dependent. The theoretical framework that we develop considers the density and distribution of a population among patches as a function of (a) within-patch movement patterns of individuals; (b) emigration from patches as a function of population density, patch configuration, patch context, and within-patch movement; and (c) loss of individuals as they disperse through landscape elements

Abstract: ▪ Abstract Landscape ecology focuses on the reciprocal interactions between spatial pattern and ecological processes, and it is well integrated with ecology. The field has grown rapidly over the past 15 years. The persistent influence of land-use history and natural disturbance on contemporary ecosystems has become apparent. Development of pattern metrics has largely stabilized, and they are widely used to relate landscape pattern to ecological responses. Analyses conducted at multiple scales have demonstrated the importance of landscape pattern for many taxa, and spatially mediated interspecific interactions are receiving increased attention. Disturbance remains prominent in landscape studies, and current research is addressing disturbance interactions. Integration of ecosystem and landscape ecology remains challenging but should enhance understanding of landscape function. Landscape ecology should continue to refine knowledge of when spatial heterogeneity is fundamentally important, rigorously test the ...