Sunday, June 8, 2014

Understanding Landscape Ecology

UNDERSTANDING LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
by Antonio C. Antonio
July 3, 2013

A serious study of Landscape Ecology will treat us to a wide assortment of terms that we (I hope everyone will agree) have not encountered in our lifetime.  Terms like “landscape” from the ecological standpoint, “softscape” and “hardscape”.  --- Softscape would refer to man, the plants and animals that live within the landscape.  These living organisms get nourishment and survive by consuming food within a particular ecosystem.  Hardscape, on the other hand, are the infrastructure (roads, buildings, bridges or [a simple] lamppost, etc.)

Interpretation and appreciation of these terms is influenced mainly by individual customs and traditions, the region where one comes from, religion, mores, beliefs or (even) education.  An engineer or architect will always look at “hardscape” as an area to build an infrastructure design from his mind.  A person educated in social sciences will also see “hardscape” as an opportunity to learn and study further interconnections and interrelations between man and his environment while appreciating this as “softscape”.  A learned person in natural resources will always look beyond “softscape” or “hardscape” and think more in terms of “landscape”.  Landscape Ecology could be very subjective too.

Again, I should say, that individual opinions of Landscape Ecology will differ depending on their background, culture, religion, etc.  If we were to establish a benchmark for what we presently know of Landscape Ecology, most of us (I hope most will agree again) know “landscape” to simply be any of the following:
  1. From a simple mind… a patch of beautifully laid down grass plus ornamental plants, decorative, a grotto, cascading water, koi pond, etc. around the house;
  2. From a professional… an opportunity; and,
  3. From an environmental advocate… man’s survival…

the list could go on but everyone will always come up with their own peculiar way of viewing “landscape”. 

The term “landscape ecology” was coined by a German geographer, Carl Troll, in 1939. 

Landscape Ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems and is a highly interdisciplinary science which integrates biophysical and analytical approaches with humanistic and holistic perspectives across natural and social sciences.  It emphasizes on the relationship among pattern, process and scale, and focuses on broad-scale ecological and environmental issues.  It marries biophysical and socioeconomic sciences.  Landscape Ecology includes ecological flaws in landscape mosaics, land use and land cover change, scaling, relating landscape pattern analysis with ecological processes, and landscape conservation and sustainability. 

The study of Landscape Ecology is done within a variety of landscape scales, development of spatial patterns, and organizational levels of research and policy.  Landscape Ecology focuses at how spatial structures affect organism abundance at the landscape level as well as the behaviour and function of the landscape as a whole. 

Just my little thoughts… 


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