Landscape Ecology

The science of landscape ecology is a comparatively young knowledge discipline that is concerned with the variation in types of landscape or land cover and the implications that this variation has on human settlement, land use, and planning. Landscape ecology and the tools it provides may be used as a means of envisioning and conducting spatial planning through such parameters as heterogeneity, fragmentation, and connectivity. Heterogeneity refers to the degree to which different types of land cover exist within a particular area. Fragmentation refers to the degree to which individual areas of heterogeneous land are or become insufficiently large to maintain the biodiversity that might otherwise obtain. Connectivity refers to the extent to which heterogeneous or fragmented pieces of land with similar land cover may be linked to each other at different scales.

Landscape ecology techniques are used in urban and spatial planning to help integrate people into the landscape with a view to minimizing energy use and hence promoting resource efficiency. In doing this, techniques from a wide range of other disciplines are employed and integrated, including zoology, botany, geology, and sociology, among others. The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has become a very important tool for landscape ecologists and much of the practical work of the discipline is focused on accurate data collection, management, and analysis.

Landscape ecologists frequently concentrate on the borders between different areas of land. These borders may be termed ecotones as they mark the distinction between different types of land cover or other environmental difference. The ecotone might be obvious and distinct in nature or else gradual and “fuzzy”—as in hard to discern where one area of land begins or ends. In some cases, ecotones arise naturally, for example through a sudden change in altitude or a water barrier; in other cases, the ecotone might have been man-made, as in the case of a stretch of farmland or the presence of a herd of livestock.

Different ecotones may support different forms of flora and fauna, although some may be held in common. An ecotone that occupies a significant portion of land might support biodiversity that is not supported in the neighboring areas of land. Ecotones are important in providing possibly diverse sources of food and make good habitats, especially for species that are nomadic and can follow the ecotone as it moves in response to environmental or climatic change. This phenomenon has been used to explain the rise and fall of empires created by the nomads of the Asian steppes by identifying the motivation for the nomads to expand away from their traditional lands.

Studying the formation and movement of ecotones and related phenomena requires extensive, long-term analysis of the earth's surface and this in turn requires cooperation from many states in providing access to data on land use and cover within their jurisdiction. This can be problematic when secretive or security-conscious states are unwilling to yield such data. Global coverage of the earth's surface by satellites can partly resolve this problem but will not necessarily promote scientific cooperation and understanding.

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