Aesthetic landscapes: an emergent component in sustaining societies

A revival in the concept of sustainability is appreciated as Earth’s human population continues to increase and its related global concerns in disease ecology, energy resource management, environmental literacy, food production, genetic diversity, and landscape vitality continue to magnify. Sustain is defined within this paper as to keep in existence or to supply with resources or necessities to prevent from falling below a given threshold of health or vitality. Barrett et al. (Bioscience 47:531–535, 1997) illustrated how seven (7) processes (behaviour, development, diversity, energetics, evolution, integration, regulation) transcend eleven (11) levels of ecological organization, ranging from the ecosphere to the cellular. Comprehension of how these processes transcend all levels of ecological organization allow programs and initiatives (e.g. preserving biotic diversity) to be defined by informed incentive, rather than regulatory mandate, within societal systems. We describe how the integration of an eighth transcending process—aesthetics—is essential in the approach to and managing of market and nonmarket capital necessary in sustaining societies.     

Modeling spatial distribution of European badger in arid landscapes: an ecosystem functioning approach

Understanding the factors determining the spatial distribution of species is a major challenge in ecology and conservation. This study tests the use of ecosystem functioning variables, derived from satellite imagery data, to explore their potential use in modeling the distribution of the European badger in Mediterranean arid environments. We found that the performance of distribution models was enhanced by the inclusion of variables derived from the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), such as mean EVI (a proxy for primary production), the coefficient of variation of mean EVI (an indicator of seasonality), and the standard deviation of mean EVI (representing spatial heterogeneity of primary production). We also found that distributions predicted by remote sensing data were consistent with the ecological preferences of badger in those environments, which may be explained by the link between EVI-derived variables and the spatial and temporal variability of food resource availability. In conclusion, we suggest the incorporation of variables associated with ecosystem function into species modeling exercises as a useful tool for improving decision-making related to wildlife conservation and management.     

Landscape cohesion: an index for the conservation potential of landscapes for biodiversity

In urbanising landscapes, planning for sustainable biodiversity occurs in a context of multifunctional land use. Important conditions for species persistence are habitat quality, the amount and configuration of habitat and the permeability of the landscape matrix. For planning purposes, these determinants should be integrated into simple indicators for spatial conditions of persistence probability. We propose a framework of three related indices. The cohesion index is based on the ecology of metapopulations in a habitat network. We discuss how an indicator for species persistence in such a network could be developed. To translate this network index into an area index, we propose the concept of spatial cohesion. Habitat cohesion and spatial cohesion are defined and measured for single species or, at best, for species profiles. Since species differ in their perception of the same landscape, different species will rate different values of these indices for the same landscape. Because landscapes are rarely planned for single species, we further propose the index of landscape cohesion, which integrates the spatial cohesion indices of different species. Indices based on these concepts can be built into GIS tools for landscape assessment. We illustrate different applications of these indices, and emphasise the distinction between ecological and political decisions in developing and applying such tools. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Generating meaningful landscapes for globalized mobile societies: pushing an international research agenda

Context

People’s well-being is influenced by the ability to establish a bond with a place and attach meanings to it. Many studies show that the longer people reside in a place, the stronger their place attachment becomes. In today’s global societies, the length of residency is vastly reduced because of, e.g., individualistic lifestyles, global workplaces and forced migration (e.g., caused by war or climate change). This trend challenges landscape science: people increasingly need places (landscapes) that can be appropriated easily and quickly by many cultural groups. At the same time, however, these places should not simply become trivial and exchangeable.

Objectives

Place attachment/place making studies have become popular in landscape science. However, we have identified a deficit in both the development and application of theory. The research agenda proposed here shall initiate a fundamental discourse on balancing the demands of a global society with the requirements for sustainable landscapes.

Methods

Literature review.

Results/conclusions

We propose a research agenda with the following pillars: (1) to expand theories and concepts of place attachment, to accommodate the new and unprecedented drivers generated by 21st century mobile societies, (2) to improve the understanding of how landscapes afford place attachment and identity-building in both long- and short-term resident and migrant groups, and (3) to establish scientific knowledge on the inclusive role of landscapes. Proposed research methods range from qualitative social science studies, in situ interviews and psychological experiments to the use of social media data and 3D landscape visualization tools.

     

The influence of corridors on the movement behavior of individual Peromyscus polionotus in experimental landscapes

To assess corridor effects on movement in Peromyscus polionotus (old-field mice), we used a set of three experimental landscapes that contained multiple patches (1.64 ha) of usable, open habitat embedded in a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) forest matrix. Some patches were connected by corridors and others were isolated (unconnected). We introduced mice to nest boxes in experimental patches and followed them through the landscapes via trapping. We found weak evidence that the presence of corridors decreased the probability that P. polionotus (particularly females) would disperse or disappear from a patch. In the process of live trapping the patches, we also encountered `feral' P. polionotus, Sigmodon hispidus (cotton rats), and Peromyscus gossypinus (cotton mice). The average number of feral animals did not differ between isolated and connected patches. This suggests that corridors do not act as drift fences that `sieve' individuals out of the matrix and into the patches. However, more male than female P. polionotus and S. hispidus were trapped in isolated patches. This intersexual difference did not exist in connected patches.     

Ecosystem services in changing landscapes: An introduction

The concept of ecosystem services from landscapes is rapidly gaining momentum as a language to communicate values and benefits to scientists and lay alike. Landscape ecology has an enormous contribution to make to this field, and one could argue, uniquely so. Tools developed or adapted for landscape ecology are being increasingly used to assist with the quantification, modelling, mapping, and valuing of ecosystem services. Several of these tools and methods encased therein are described among the eleven papers presented in this special issue, and their application has the potential to facilitate the management and promotion of services within ecosystems. Papers are associated with each of the four key categories of services that ecosystems provide to humans: supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural. The papers represent work conducted in eleven different countries, especially from South America. Each carries a unique approach to address a particular question pertaining to a particular set of ecosystem services. These studies are designed to inform and improve the economic, environmental and social values of the ecosystem services. This knowledge should help to develop new management alternatives for sustaining and planning ecosystems and the services they provide at different scales in space and time. We believe that these papers will create interest and inform management of some potential methods to evaluate ecosystem services at the landscape level with an integrative approach, offering new tools for management and conservation.     

Large-scale experimental landscapes reveal distinctive effects of patch shape and connectivity on arthropod communities

The size, shape, and isolation of habitat patches can affect organism behavior and population dynamics, but little is known about the relative role of shape and connectivity in affecting ecological communities at large spatial scales. Using six sampling sessions from July 2001 until August 2002, we collected 33,685 arthropods throughout seven 12-ha experimental landscapes consisting of clear-cut patches surrounded by a matrix of mature pine forest. Patches were explicitly designed to manipulate connectivity (via habitat corridors) independently of area and edge effects. We found that patch shape, rather than connectivity, affected ground-dwelling arthropod richness and beta diversity (i.e. turnover of genera among patches). Arthropod communities contained fewer genera and exhibited less turnover in high-edge connected and high-edge unconnected patches relative to low-edge unconnected patches of similar area. Connectivity, rather than patch shape, affected the evenness of ground-dwelling arthropod communities; regardless of patch shape, high-edge connected patches had lower evenness than low- or high-edge unconnected patches. Among the most abundant arthropod orders, increased richness in low-edge unconnected patches was largely due to increased richness of Coleoptera, whereas Hymenoptera played an important role in the lower evenness in connected patches and patterns of turnover. These findings suggest that anthropogenic habitat alteration can have distinct effects on ground-dwelling arthropod communities that arise due to changes in shape and connectivity. Moreover, this work suggests that corridors, which are common conservation tools that change both patch shape and connectivity, can have multiple effects on arthropod communities via different mechanisms, and each effect may alter components of community structure.     

Agri-environmental schemes and the European agricultural landscapes: the role of indicators as valuing tools for evaluation

In Europe most conservation values, from biodiversity to scenic sites, are integral parts of agricultural landscapes. When these landscapes change as a result of agricultural policies, natural values – species, habitats, landscapes – are usually affected. Until recently however, these values have not been part of agricultural policies. The impacts of such new policies are difficult to evaluate because landscapes are complex and diverse, and the effects of policy are rarely immediate or causal.This paper evaluates the potential effects of Agri-environmental Regulation EC 2078/92 on European agricultural landscapes through the use of agri-environmental indicators (AEIs) on policy effects. After discussing the general framework of the evaluation methodology through the use of AEIs, we distinguish two types of agri-environmental policy (AEP) effects: policy performances and policy outcomes. The impediments to direct measurement of policy outcomes are stated. The potential for measuring policy performances are checked in two case study areas, one in Spain and one in Denmark, characterized by extensive agricultural land-uses and by the dual process of intensification/abandonment that is threatening their natural values. Both study areas are currently targeted by agri-environmental schemes under Reg. 2078/92. The realisability or availability of suitable statistical data to construct and report each AEI is stated for both types of effects. A problem of scale and content is found in most of the available statistics for assessing policy outcomes and the need for data at farm level is concluded to be indispensable if policy performances are to be measured. Effects of policy performance are measured for key selected AEIs in each study area on the basis of the results of a field survey based on questionnaires of participating and non-participating farmers in the AEP schemes. The main effects may be catalogued as improvement effects or protection effects since they represent a change in participant over non-participant farmers' decisions. Finally, the importance of this type of policy evaluation approach is discussed in the light of the likely future development of AEP in the European Union.     

Empirical evaluation of the strength of interspecific competition in shaping small mammal communities in fragmented landscapes

Context

Theory predicts that habitat loss and fragmentation may have drastic consequences on species’ interactions. To date, however, little empirical evidence exists on the strength of interspecific competition in shaping animal communities in fragmented landscapes.

Objectives

Our aim was to measure the degree of ongoing competitive interference between species in fragmented landscapes. Our model system was the community of ground-dwelling rodents in deciduous woodlands in central Italy, composed of a habitat generalist species (Apodemus sylvaticus) and two forest specialists (Apodemus flavicollis and Myodes glareolus). Our objectives were to test whether species were segregated among forest patches and whether spatial segregation was determined by interspecific competition or habitat and resource availability.

Methods

We surveyed the populations inhabiting 29 woodland patches in a highly fragmented landscape using a capture-mark-recapture protocol, capturing >4500 individuals. First we modelled species’ distribution as a function of habitat, resource availability and landscape variables. The second stage of our analyses involved measuring the response of vital rate parameters (body mass, reproduction, survival, recruitment, population density) to competitor density.

Results

The relative distribution of species reflected a spatial segregation of habitat generalists and specialists according to habitat quality, cover and connectivity. Interspecific competition mainly affected individual level vital rates, whereas we found no substantial effects at the population level.

Conclusions

Competitive exclusion of specialist species by generalist species was occurring. However, when compared to other factors such as habitat connectivity and resource availability, interspecific competition played a relatively minor role in shaping the studied community.

     

Cultural landscapes of Germany are patch-corridor-matrix mosaics for an invasive megaforb

Predicting the vulnerability of landscapes to both the initial colonisation and the subsequent spread of invasive species remains a major challenge. The aim of this study was to assess the relative importance of sub-patch level factors and landscape factors for the invasion of the megaforb Heracleum mantegazzianum. In particular, we tested which factors affect the presence in suitable habitat patches and the cover-percentage within invaded patches. For this purpose, we used standard (logistic) regression modelling techniques. The regression analyses were based on inventories of suitable habitat patches in 20 study areas (each 1 km²) in cultural landscapes of Germany. The cover percentage in invaded patches was independent from landscape factors, except for patch shape, and even unsatisfactorily explained by sub-patch level factors included in the analysis (R ² = 0.19). In contrast, presence of H. mantegazzianum was affected by both local and landscape factors. Woody habitat structure decreased the occurrence probability, whereas vicinity to transport corridors (rivers, roads), high habitat connectivity, patch size and perimeter-area ratio of habitat patches had positive effects. The significance of corridors and habitat connectivity shows that dispersal of H. mantegazzianum through the landscape matrix is limited. We conclude that cultural landscapes of Germany function as patch-corridor-matrix mosaics for the spread of H. mantegazzianum. Our results highlight the importance of landscape structure and habitat configuration for invasive spread. Furthermore, this study shows that both local and landscape factors should be incorporated into spatially explicit models to predict spatiotemporal dynamics and equilibrium stages of plant invasions.     

Forest gradient response in Sierran landscapes: the physical template

Vegetation pattern on landscapes is the manifestation of physical gradients, biotic response to these gradients, and disturbances. Here we focus on the physical template as it governs the distribution of mixed-conifer forests in California's Sierra Nevada. We extended a forest simulation model to examine montane environmental gradients, emphasizing factors affecting the water balance in these summer-dry landscapes. The model simulates the soil moisture regime in terms of the interaction of water supply and demand: supply depends on precipitation and water storage, while evapotranspirational demand varies with solar radiation and temperature. The forest cover itself can affect the water balance via canopy interception and evapotranspiration. We simulated Sierran forests as slope facets, defined as gridded stands of homogeneous topographic exposure, and verified simulated gradient response against sample quadrats distributed across Sequoia National Park. We then performed a modified sensitivity analysis of abiotic factors governing the physical gradient. Importantly, the model's sensitivity to temperature, precipitation, and soil depth varies considerably over the physical template, particularly relative to elevation. The physical drivers of the water balance have characteristic spatial scales that differ by orders of magnitude. Across large spatial extents, temperature and precipitation as defined by elevation primarily govern the location of the mixed conifer zone. If the analysis is constrained to elevations within the mixed-conifer zone, local topography comes into play as it influences drainage. Soil depth varies considerably at all measured scales, and is especially dominant at fine (within-stand) scales. Physical site variables can influence soil moisture deficit either by affecting water supply or water demand; these effects have qualitatively different implications for forest response. These results have clear implications about purely inferential approaches to gradient analysis, and bear strongly on our ability to use correlative approaches in assessing the potential responses of montane forests to anthropogenic climatic change.     

Immersive landscapes: modelling ecosystem reference conditions in virtual reality

Landscape Ecology - Understanding the variability and dynamics of ecosystems, as well as their responses to climate or land use change, is challenging for policy makers and natural resource...     

Landscape patch shape complexity as an effective measure for plant species richness in rural landscapes

The application of landscape patch shape complexity as a predictor ofvascularplant and bryophyte species richness is analysed. Several common complexityindices (shape index, fractal dimension, comparison to the area of the minimumbounding rectangle) are tested for their predictive power for plant speciesrichness. One new robust measure for shape complexity is presented whichovercomes some disadvantages of common complexity measures applied to highresolution analysis of agricultural landscapes based on aerial photographs. Thenew index is based on the number of shape characterising points along apolygons boundary. This new measure shows promising predictive capabilitiesforspecies richness of vascular plants and bryophytes (correlation coefficient:0.85 for vascular plants, 0.74 for bryophytes).This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Linkages beyond borders: targeting spatial processes in fragmented urban landscapes

Management of ecosystems often focuses on specific species chosen for their habitat demand, public appeal, or levels of threat. We propose a complementary framework for choosing focal species, the mobile link concept, which allows managers to focus on spatial processes and deal with multi-scale ecological dynamics. Spatial processes are important for three reasons: maintenance, re-organization, and restoration of ecological values. We illustrate the framework with a case study of the Eurasian Jay, a mobile link species of importance for the oak forest regeneration in the Stockholm National Urban Park, Sweden, and its surroundings. The case study concludes with a conceptual model for how the framework can be applied in management. The model is based on a review of published data complemented with a seed predation experiment and mapping of Jay territories to reduce the risk of applying non-urban site-specific information in an urban setting. Our case study shows that the mobile link approach has several advantages: (1) Reducing the vulnerability of ecological functions to disturbances and fluctuations in resources allocated to management, (2) Reducing management costs by maintaining natural processes, and (3) Maintaining gene flow and genetic diversity at a landscape level. We argue that management that includes mobile link organisms is an important step towards the prevention of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss in increasingly fragmented landscapes. Identifying and managing mobile links is a way to align management with the ecologically relevant scales in any landscape.     

Fire-induced changes in northern Patagonian landscapes

In northern Patagonia, Argentina we quantify changes in fire frequency along a gradient from mesic Nothofagus dombeyi forest to xeric woodlands of Austrocedrus chilensis at the steppe ecotone, and we examine patterns of vegetation change coincident with the changes in fire regimes across a range of spatial scales. At a regional scale changes in land cover types are documented by comparing 1:250000 scale cover type maps from 1913 and 1985. Changes in landscape structure are analyzed by comparing vegetation patterns on 1:24000 scale aerial photographs taken in 1940 and 1970. Fire frequency peaked in the late nineteenth-century due to widespread burning and clearing of forests by European settlers late in the century. Subsequently, fire frequency declined dramatically about 1910 due to the cessation of intentional fires and has remained low due to increasingly effective fire exclusion. At a regional scale there has been a dramatic increase during the twentieth century in the proportion of forest cover relative to areas mapped as recent burns or shrublands in 1913. Remnant forest patches that survived the widespread late-nineteenth century burning have coalesced to form more continuous forest covers, and formerly continuous areas of shrublands have become dissected by forest. Under reduced fire frequency there has been a shift in dominance from short-lived resprouting species (mostly shrubs) towards longer-lived species and obligate seed-dispersers such as Austrocedrus chilensis and Nothofagus dombeyi. Due to limited seed dispersal of these tree species, the spatial configuration of remnant forest patches plays a key role in subsequent changes in landscape pattern.     

Revisiting futures: integrating culture,care and time in landscapes

Context

Two approaches to study landscape change have been exploited: one that tries to study the developments that have happened in the past, and another that tries to foresee future.

Objectives

We analyse how this dual approach can help understanding landscape change, how people relate to it in general, what their expectations and preferences are. We also discuss the usefulness of path dependency theory, cultural sustainability, and cultural ecosystem services approaches in understanding the management of a historical cultural landscape.

Methods

First, we revisit a 1999 scenario study that outlined the possible trajectories of change prior Estonian accession to the European Union in 2004. Then, through series of studies we track the wider context of the landscape changes, analysing the results from the interviews and combining those with the visible results. We seek to answer whether or not the landscape changes that occurred followed any of the past scenarios, and if people’s preferences changed.

Results

The dynamics of realisation of different scenarios was not straightforward. However, people showed clear preference towards landscapes that carried signs of the continuation of rural life. What was not foreseen when designing the scenarios was the upsurge of local identity creating the links with the past.

Conclusions

In this Estonian traditional cultural landscape, stewardship, culture and cultural ecosystem services, or nature’s contribution to people as IPBES prefers to call this now, define what caring for the landscape involves.