EVSC30006 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Landscape Ecology, Metapopulation, Biogeography
1 Jun 2018
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LECTURE 15: LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
• Landscapes are composed of various elements
• Explicitly addresses the importance of spatial configuration for ecological processes
SCALE
• Understanding how scale influences observations is critical to landscape ecology
• Right scale depends on the phenomenon of study – relevant landscape pattern-process relationships operate at
different scales depending on organism
• Measured by 2 factors:
o Grain: determined by finest level of resolution or measurement made by an observation
o Extent: total area under consideration
• Arrangement of landscape has major effects on flows of energy, nutrients & organisms
• Wide-ranging species are sensitive to landscape but smaller, less mobile species might not be
Effect of Scale
• Complexity of ecosystems increase with scale
• Process rates slow, changes occurs more slowly
• Change that happens at a broad scale has an immediate & irreversible impact on scales below (reverse isn’t true)
• Control on patterns & processes change as scale changes
LANDSCAPE PATTERN
• Landscapes are characterised by structure: spatial arrangement of their elements
• Result from physical, biological & cultural processes operating simultaneously
• Drivers: geology, topography, altitude, soil, natural disturbances (c.c, volcanoes, meteors, fires, earthquakes) and
human disturbances
Patch-Corridor-Matrix Model
• Landscape is typically composed of several types of landscape element
Patch
Homogenous, nonlinear
area of land that differs
from surroundings
Important characteristics:
• Size: species area curves – larger patches has larger pop size for
species & greater number of habitats
• Location – in landscape (metapopulation theory)
• Shape: natural (curved edges), human (straight edges), elongation
(l:w important for edge effects), convolution
Corridor
Strip of land which differs
from matrix on either side
• Function as: habitat, dispersal conduits, barriers
Matrix
Most extensive &
connected landscape
element types
• Defined based on the object of study
• Theory of Island Biogeography cannot be fully applied to terrestrial
environment, and matrix influences patches
• Isolation is a function of matrix quality, rather than just distance from
patch
Landscape Continuum Model
• Patches & corridors are difficult to determine in many landscapes, may not be easily differentiated from matrix
• Small & isolated elements may not serve as habitat alone, but do collectively – should be considered part of the
background matrix
• Landscape change has temporal component – modification increasing over time
Landscape Ecology: focus on spatial heterogeneity & pattern, on broader spatial scales, focus on the role of
humans in creating & influencing landscape patterns & processes
Document Summary
Landscape ecology: focus on spatial heterogeneity & pattern, on broader spatial scales, focus on the role of humans in creating & influencing landscape patterns & processes. Explicitly addresses the importance of spatial configuration for ecological processes. Scale: understanding how scale influences observations is critical to landscape ecology. Right scale depends on the phenomenon of study relevant landscape pattern-process relationships operate at different scales depending on organism: measured by 2 factors, grain: determined by finest level of resolution or measurement made by an observation. Extent: total area under consideration: arrangement of landscape has major effects on flows of energy, nutrients & organisms, wide-ranging species are sensitive to landscape but smaller, less mobile species might not be. Effect of scale: complexity of ecosystems increase with scale, change that happens at a broad scale has an immediate & irreversible impact on scales below (reverse isn"t true, control on patterns & processes change as scale changes.
