LA 243 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Landscape Ecology, Palustrine Wetland
Assessing the Site’s Biological Context
● 82% of Americans live in urban areas
● 10,000 miles of paved roads and 1 million homes are built annually
● Landscape Ecology: a transdisciplinary science concerned with landscape structure,
function, and change. Both basic and applied research in landscape ecology can help to
inform more context sensitive land use planning at regional, community and site scales.
● Urban expansion with little attention to sustainability=countless of aquatic and terrestrial
habitats
○ Interior habitat, edge habitat are affected by roads
○ When new roads are built in forested landscapes they can be barriers to lateral
movement of ground dwelling animals isolate endemic species and ultimately
dooming species to extinction at a local level.
Nature’s infrastructure is the air, water, soil, plants, animals, and microbes that provide many of
the “Goods and services” we need to survive on this planet. Sewage and storm runoff water
have the biggest off site environmental impacts.
Low impact designs:
● Green streets
● Green roofs
● Greener, more natural approaches to managing and protecting riparian zones (interface
between land and river/streams)
Ecological community: aggregation of interacting species living together in the same place
● Habitat: where an organism lives or where one would find it
● Niche: position or status of an organism within its community and ecosystem
● Habitat=organism’s “address” and niche” organism’s profession
Wetlands: perform multiple functions that directly benefit society
● Nursery grounds for commercial sport fish
● Food and shelter for migratory birds
● Natural retention areas for storm water runoff
5 classes of wetlands
● Marine (open ocean and its associated coastline)
● Estuarine (tidal waters of coastal rivers)
● Riverine (rivers and streams)
● Lacustrine (lakes, reservation, and large ponds)
● Palustrine (marshes, wet meadows, small shallow ponds)
Wildlife
● With new built landscape, wildlife becomes reduced or endangered
● Maps showing spatial distributions of known endangered or threatened species can
provide useful information to protect the species and their natural habitats
Plants
● Help clean air
● Create habitats for insects and birds
● Reduce costs and environmental impacts of heating and cooling nearby buildings
● Creates microclimates
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
82% of americans live in urban areas. 10,000 miles of paved roads and 1 million homes are built annually. Landscape ecology: a transdisciplinary science concerned with landscape structure, function, and change. Both basic and applied research in landscape ecology can help to inform more context sensitive land use planning at regional, community and site scales. Urban expansion with little attention to sustainability=countless of aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Interior habitat, edge habitat are affected by roads. When new roads are built in forested landscapes they can be barriers to lateral movement of ground dwelling animals isolate endemic species and ultimately dooming species to extinction at a local level. Nature"s infrastructure is the air, water, soil, plants, animals, and microbes that provide many of the goods and services we need to survive on this planet. Sewage and storm runoff water have the biggest off site environmental impacts. Greener, more natural approaches to managing and protecting riparian zones (interface between land and river/streams)
