This work provides in-depth analysis of the origins of landscape ecology and its close alignment with the understanding of scale, the causes of landscape pattern, and the interactions of spatial pattern with a variety of ecological processes. The text covers the quantitative approaches that are applied widely in landscape studies, with emphasis on their appropriate use and interpretation. The field of landscape ecology has grown rapidly during this period, its concepts and methods have matured, and the published literature has increased exponentially. Landscape research has enhanced understanding of the causes and consequences of spatial heterogeneity and how these vary with scale, and they have influenced the management of natural and human-dominated landscapes. Landscape ecology is now considered mainstream, and the approaches are widely used in many branches of ecology and are applied not only in terrestrial settings but also in aquatic and marine systems. In response to these rapid developments, an updated edition of Landscape Ecology in Theory and Practice provides a synthetic overview of landscape ecology, including its development, the methods and techniques that are employed, the major questions addressed, and the insights that have been gained.”

An ideal text for students taking a course in landscape ecology. The book has been written by very well-known practitioners and pioneers in the new field of ecological analysis. Landscape ecology has emerged during the past two decades as a new and exciting level of ecological study. Environmental problems such as global climate change, land use change, habitat fragmentation and loss of biodiversity have required ecologists to expand their traditional spatial and temporal scales and the widespread availability of remote imagery, geographic information systems, and desk top computing has permitted the development of spatially explicit analyses. In this new text book this new field of landscape ecology is given the first fully integrated treatment suitable for the student. Throughout, the theoretical developments, modeling approaches and results, and empirical data are merged together, so as not to introduce barriers to the synthesis of the various approaches that constitute an effective ecological synthesis. The book also emphasizes selected topic areas in which landscape ecology has made the most contributions to our understanding of ecological processes, as well as identifying areas where its contributions have been limited. Each chapter features questions for discussion as well as recommended reading.

Filled with numerous exercises this practical guide provides a real hands-on approach to learning the essential concepts and techniques of landscape ecology. The knowledge gained enables students to usefully address landscape- level ecological and management issues. A variety of approaches are presented, including: group discussion, thought problems, written exercises, and modelling. Each exercise is categorised as to whether it is for individual, small group, or whole class study.

This text discusses the theoretical developments, modelling approaches and results, and empirical data of landscape ecology. It also emphasizes selected topics in which landscape ecology has made the most contributions to our understanding of ecological processes.

Landscape ecology is a rapidly growing science of quantifying the ways in which ecosystems interact - of establishing a link between activities in one region and repercussions in another region. Remote sensing is a fast, inexpensive tool for conducting the landscape inventories that are essential to this branch of science. However, anyone who has conducted studies in the field has already found that traditional landscape ecology metrics are not always reliable with remote images. Landscape Ecology: New Metric Indicators for Monitoring, Modeling, and Assessment of Ecosystems with Remote Sensing presents a new set of metrics that allows remotely sensed data to be used effectively in landscape ecology. This groundbreaking new work is the first to present new metrics for remote sensing of landscapes and demonstrate how they can be used to yield more accurate analyses for GIS studies. The new metrics expand the capabilities of GIS, reduce interference and incorrect readings, help ecologists better understand ecosystem relationships, and reduce study costs. This set of metrics should be adopted by the EPA and will be the standard measure for future landscape analysis. This authoritative guide assesses the current state of the field and how remote sensing and landscape metrics have been used to date. It also explains how some of the traditional metrics were developed and how they can fail in landscape studies. Once this background has been established, the new metrics are introduced and their benefits and uses explained. The information in this book has previously been available only in scattered journal articles; this is the first single source for complete background information and instructions on using the new metrics.

This important new work--the first of its kind--focuses on the distribution patterns of landscape elements or ecosystems; the flows of animals, plants, energy, mineral nutrients and water; and the ecological changes in the landscape over time. Includes over 1,200 references from current ecology, geography, forestry, and wildlife biologcy literature.

The book gives a fundamental representation of landscape ecology, which proves to be a young, but an interesting and very important trans-disciplinary science for the solution of environmental problems. Both the theoretical basis and practical application of landscape ecology are considered. Great value is attached to describe approaches and experiences from Germany and Central Europe, and to discuss them in an international context. The book is addressed to landscape planners, managers, conservationists and architects, to biologists and geographers, to colleges, universities, authorities, and to the general public being interested in ecological issues. Among the themes are e. g. the roots and the position of landscape ecology, problems of scale and dimension, landscape analysis, diagnosis, potentials, evaluation, change, prognosis, tools like remote sensing and information systems, spatial planning and nature conservation.