Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 11.2 A list of major research topics in landscape ecology suggested by a group of leading
landscape ecologists from around the world at the 16th Annual Symposium of the US Regional
Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology, held at Arizona State
University, Tempe, in April 2001 [
2
]
Development of theory
and principles
• Landscape mosaics and ecological flows
• Land transformations
• Landscape sustainability
• Landscape complexity
Landscape metrics
• Norms or standards for metric selection, change detection, etc.
• Integration of metrics with holistic landscape properties
• Relating metrics to ecological processes
• Sensitivity to scale change
Ecological flows
in landscape mosaics
• Exchanges of organisms, material, energy, and information
across the landscape
• Effects of connectivity, edges, and boundaries
• Spread of invading species
• Spatial heterogeneity and ecosystem processes
• Disturbances and patch dynamics
Optimization of landscape
pattern
• Optimization of land use pattern
• Optimal management
• Optimal design and planning
• New methods spatial optimization
Metapopulation theory
•
Integration of the view of landscape mosaics
•
Incorporation of socioeconomic factors and management
decisions
Scaling
• Extrapolating information across heterogeneous landscapes
• Development of scaling theory and methods
• Derivation of empirical scaling relations for landscape pattern
and processes
Complexity and nonlinear
dynamics of
landscapes
• Landscapes as spatially extended complex systems
• Landscapes as complex adaptive systems
• Thresholds, criticality, and phase transitions
• Self-organization in landscape structure and dynamics
Land use and land cover
change
• Biophysical and socioeconomic drivers and mechanisms
• Ecological consequences and feedbacks
• Long-term landscape changes driven by economies and
climate changes
Spatial heterogeneity
in aquatic systems
• The relationship between spatial pattern and ecological processes
in lakes, rivers, and oceans
• Terrestrial and aquatic comparisons
Landscape-scale
experiments
• Experimental landscape systems
• Field manipulative studies
• Scale effects in experimental studies
New methodological
developments
• Integration among observation, experimentation, and modeling
• New statistical and modeling methods for spatially explicit studies
•
Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches
Data collection and
accuracy assessment
• Multiple-scale landscape data
• More emphasis on collecting data on organisms and processes
• Data quality control
• Metadata and accuracy assessment
(continued)
