Landscape Ecology
I.
II.
What is it? – “The study of the reciprocal effects of spatial patterns on ecological
processes”
a. An approach to ecology that explicitly takes spatial characteristics into
consideration
b. Spatial characteristics
i. Patch size
ii. Patch dispersion
iii. Patch shape
iv. Extent
v. Grain
vi. Inter-patch spatial relationships
vii. Local vs. regional
viii. Patch composition
1. Age
2. Species composition
3. Microclimate
Scaling – How do various parameters change across different size scales?
a. Linear – no scaling
b. Non-linear
c. Disjunct
III.
Landscape viewpoints
a. Ecological systems that exist at the scale of kilometers with recognizable
elements
b. An abstraction representing spatial heterogeneity at any scale
IV.
Approaches
a. Elucidation if the interactions among the elements of a matrix – especially
adjacent of proximate elements
b. Coarse-scale dynamics and behaviors of the matrix as a whole. An abstraction
representing spatial heterogeneity at any scale
V.
Patch Dynamics
a. Patch formation, loss and succession
b. Metapopulation dynamics
c. System openness
d. Linkages
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