Landscape Ecology - Ecological Systems - page 180

a recognized scientific field of global scope until the 1980s when remote sensing
data and computers became widely accessible to ecologists and geographers.
The 1980s was also a time period when ecological ideas of spatial heterogeneity
and nonequilibrium dynamics flourished, and when landscape ecology took roots in
North America. Today, landscape ecology is a well-established field of study, with
active participation of ecological, geographical, and social scientists from around
the world.
Landscape ecology has been dominated by two schools of thought: the European
perspective and the North American perspective. At the risk of oversimplification,
the European landscape ecology perspective may be considered as being
characterized by a more holistic, humanistic, and society-centered view, with
a focus on user-inspired and solution-driven research. The North American land-
scape ecology perspective, on the other hand, has been dominated by a more
analytical and biological ecology-centered view, with a focus on basic science-
oriented and question-driven studies. Cautions must be exercised, however, to
avoid overinterpretation of such dichotomous characterization [ 2 ]. The two
perspectives are neither inclusive nor exclusive; they are not contradictory but
complementary. There are, and should be, other approaches to landscape ecology.
For example, one may argue for an Australian landscape ecology perspective that
focuses on pragmatic and functional approaches, typically, tied with land manage-
ment, restoration, and conservation issues (e.g., [ 3 ]).
Landscape ecology is now a well-established interdisciplinary field of study,
which is evidenced by several characteristics. These include an evolving but
identifiable system of concepts, theories, principles, methods, and applications,
a hierarchy of professional organizations from the international association
to local chapters, a flagship journal, Landscape Ecology ( http://www.
springerlink.com/content/0921-2973 ) , the adoption in educational and training
programs by major universities and research institutes around the world, and an
increasing number of publications in main-stream scientific journals which
indicate its recognized status as well as its expanding impacts on related
disciplines.
In this entry, I focus on the key concepts, research topics, and quantitative
methods in landscape ecology. A number of textbooks on landscape ecology are
available where more details on the contents covered here can be found [ 4 - 8 ].
What is Landscape Ecology?
Diverse Concepts of Landscape
The term, “landscape,” is a key concept in a number of fields, from social to
geographical and ecological sciences. With the rise of landscape ecology in the
past several decades, the concept of landscape has achieved a prominent status