History of Landscape
Ecology
•
“European School”
–
roots back to those of ecology
–
typing, classifying, naming
–
landscape architecture,
planning, designing
•
“American School”
–
young = early 1980’s
–
focus on natural systems
–
theory & models, some
field experiments
What is Landscape
Ecology?
•
Meta-analysis of papers in
Landscape Ecology (Wiens
1992) – 1
st
5 yrs of journal
–
Most studies are large scale
(landscapes are big)
–
Most studies are descriptive or
conceptual
–
Experiments difficult to
conduct, thus modeling
–
Emphasis on vegetation pattern
/ land use pattern
–
Humans = impt. part of
systems
What is Landscape
Ecology?
•
Hobbs (1997) – 2
nd
5 years of
Landscape
Ecology
–
Less descriptive
studies
–
More “methods”
and modeling
studies, no expts.
–
More quantitative /
statistical analysis
(spatial stats)
Emergence of Landscape
Ecology
Equilibrium
View
• Constant species
composition
• Disturbance &
succession =
subordinate factors
• Ecosystems self-
contained
• Internal dynamics
shape trajectory
• No need to look
outside boundaries to
understand ecosystem
dynamics
Structure
Function
?
?
?
?
Emergence of Landscape
Ecology
Dynamic View
• Disturbance &
ecosystem response =
key factors
• Disturbance counter
equilibrium
• Ecosystems NOT self-
contained
• Multiple scales of
processes, outside &
inside
• Essential to examine
spatial & temporal
context
Structure
Function
Ecological Scaling: Scale &
Pattern
• Acts in the
“ecological theatre
(Hutchinson 1965)
are played out across
various scales of
space & time
• To understand these
dramas, one must
select the
appropriate scale
T
e
m
p
o
ra
l
S
ca
le
Spatial Scale
Fine
S
h
o
rt
Coarse
L
o
n
g
Recruitment
Treefalls
Windthrow
Secondary
Succession
Species
Migrations
Speciation
Extinction
Fire
Ecological Scaling: Scale &
Pattern
• Different patterns emerge, depending
on the scale of investigation
A
m
e
ri
ca
n
R
e
d
st
a
rt
Least Flycatcher
A
m
e
ri
ca
n
R
e
d
st
a
rt
Least Flycatcher
Local Scale
(4 ha plots)
Regional Scale
(thousands of ha)
Ecological Scaling:
Definitions
• Ecological scale & cartographic scale are
exactly opposite
– Ecological scale = size (extent) of
landscape
– Cartographic scale = ratio of map to real
distance
Ecological Scaling: Components
of Scale
• Grain
= finest
component of
environment that can
be differentiated up
close
• Extent
= range at
which a relevant object
can be distinguished
from a fixed vantage
point
Fine
Coarse
Scale
Extent
Grain
Ecological Scaling: Components
of Scale
• From an
anthropocentric
perspective
, grain
and extent may be
defined on the basis
of management
objectives
• Grain
= finest unit of
mgt (e.g., stand)
• Extent
= total area
under management
(e.g., forest)