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)