Applying Landscape Ecology in Biological Conservation

535 Pages·2002·11.982 MB·English

by  John A. Wiens (auth.), Kevin J. Gutzwiller (eds.)

Applying Landscape Ecology
in Biological Conservation
Kevin J. Gutzwiller
Editor
Applying Landscape Ecology
in Biological Conservation
With a Foreword by Richard T. T. Forman
With 62 Figures, 2 in Full Color
, Springer
Kevin J. Gutzwiller
Department of Biology
Baylor University
P.O. Box 97388
Waco, TX 76798-7388
USA
[email protected]
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Applying landscape ecology in biologica! conservationlKevin J. Gutzwiller, editor.
p. efi.
Includes bibliographica! referenees (p.).
ISBN 978-0-387-95322-9 ISBN 978-1-4613-0059-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4613-0059-5
1. Landseape ecology. 2. Nature eonservation. 1. Gutzwiller, Kevin J.
QH541.l5.L35 A66 2002
577-de21 2001031432
Printed on acid-free paper.
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Origina!ly published by Springer-Verlag New York, loc. in 2002
Ali rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without
the written permission of the publisher Springer Science+Business Media, LLC except
for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection
with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer
software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is
forbidden. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc., in this
publication, even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign
that such names, as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may
accordingly be used freely by anyone.
98765432
ISBN 978-0-387-95322-9
To those who are waging the battle
to conserve native biota
Foreword
I recently visited one of the world's leading ecological research projects. We
drove forever through beautiful boring wheat fields. Woods on the horizon occa
sionally became near misses en route, and shrubby areas with salt-encrusted soil
suggested that something was wrong. We looked in vain for roadkilled wallabies
and venomous snakes. Fencelines seemingly miles apart tried to give scale to the
land, but mainly we faced an endless foreground of dreary verges.
Upon entering some wonderful woods, my ecological juices began to flow.
Intriguing plants covered the place, some familiar, some bizarre. Babblers and
honeyeaters sang novel songs, and roos had spread scats about. We explored the
neighboring area and became landscape detectives. Then the experience sank in.
I was in virtually the only long-term, multidimensional, landscape-wide ecologi
cal study area on earth. The investigators had measured and knew "everything"
about this landscape.
Something jarring then appeared next to a big woods. Several curving rows of
young trees, perhaps head high, snaked off toward a distant woodlot. What's that?
I queried. The farmer planted those eucalypts a couple of years ago. What for? To
connect the small woods to the large woods for the movement of birds. The
farmer? For bird movement? What's the farmer know, or care, about birds? Ever
since we started the research here we have kept the farmers up to date on our re
sults. We send them the lists of birds, how many Western Greys move along their
fencelines, the soil saline levels, and interesting plants discovered. We often hear
that as soon as the lists arrive, family members get on the phone and not only take
pride in their own species, but also discuss why they don't have a particular
species that their neighbor has. Did you tell this farmer where to plant the corri
dor? No, the farmers talked it over and chose the route. Who decided to make it
80 meters wide? They did. Why does it squiggle across the land? In addition to fa
cilitating species movement, they hope it will reduce soil erosion and salinity
vii
viii Foreword
problems. While driving away, I thought about how much had been learned from
this research, how the researchers had educated the landowners, and how biolog
ical conservation had gained from both actions. Landscape ecology had en
hanced, not only biological conservation, but also soil conservation and local cul
tUre in its caring for the land. Another little epiphany, I noted.
, Wf-soon stopped at an old brick building in a town center to find the local Land
Care agent. Land care? What's that? The state provides matching funds to support
local efforts that channel state-of-the-knowledge information on ecology, soil,
farming, water resources, gardening, and hunting to landowners. The Land Care
agent then welcomed us, and I could tell from the ready smile, the sense of ex
pertise, and the room bulging with maps, GIS images, bird photos, and more, that
she was an effective catalytic agent. What do you really do? She said she could
expound on all the children's groups, adult volunteer projects, and packets of in
formation provided to very independent landowners. But first she had to tell me
about these landscape ecologists. They regularly stop by with the most amazing
useful information, often in a form that is readily translated or passed on. They
provide the only broad-scale information that integrates diverse components, and
they have the fewest axes to grind. Native species are already benefitting, and
both nature and people should gain from a raft of ongoing projects on the ground.
I left the brick building feeling that I had witnessed a ray of hope for the future. A
concrete basis for optimism.
Since then, the need for a book about applying landscape ecology in biological
conservation has accelerated. So, what a pleasure to find the book in your hand by
editor Kevin Gutzwiller and 46 perceptive authors! It is a gold mine of insight,
providing a remarkable snapshot of the state of our knowledge. The synthesis
highlights how far we have come in some 15 years, and yet how much remains
unknown and undone.
The genie, landscape ecology, has emerged from Alladin's lamp and has ex
panded so rapidly that it now permeates fields from forestry to urban and regional
planning, wildlife management, landscape architecture, geography, and biologi
cal conservation. Road ecology appears to be the sleeping giant of biological con
servation, so transportation is next, and any other activity dealing with the land
cannot be far behind. That is not surprising, because landscape ecology addresses
hydrologic flows, water quality, erosion, sediment deposition, human activities
and movements, in addition to animals, plants, and natural communities.
But, as the book strongly indicates, sustaining species and natural communities
requires more than landscape ecology. Other useful subjects in biological conser
vation and conservation biology include genetics, captive breeding, gene flow,
physiological ecology of rare species, population dynamics, competition and pre
dation, and mapping of small populations. At the other end of the scale, science,
as one slice of human understanding, is but one of the broad keys to success in bi
ological conservation.
The land mosaic paradigm has been especially useful in landscape ecology. In
deed, the patch-corridor-matrix model originally provided conceptual simplicity
and a handle to attract scientists to study landscapes. It facilitated hypothesis test-
Foreword ix
ing, experimental layout, modeling, comparison oflandscapes world-wide, appli
cations of many sorts, and communication among disciplines and the public. It
readily linked with function and change and worked equally well from city to
wilderness. This handy spatial model can be infinitely subdivided into size
number-type-arrangement categories and should be useful in linking hierarchy
and scale to feedback systems in landscapes.
Biological conservation tends to focus on protected areas, yet sustaining most
species and natural communities mainly depends on what happens in the unpro
tected matrix. We can now move beyond the stage of patches-in-an-inhospitable
matrix, source-and-sink, and corridor-connecting-two-patches. The matrix is al
ways heterogeneous, a patchwork with multiple sources, barriers, conduits,
attractors, repellers, sinks, avoidance spots, and comfort places. In fact, why
couldn't the patch-corridor-matrix model be enriched or even replaced by a func
tional mosaic model, in which the landscape is composed of such places portray
ing movements and flows?
In addition, a gaping research frontier exists between patch-corridor differences
and landscape-type differences. A simple but universal, spatially focused neigh
borhood model, for example, could enormously stimulate research, understanding,
and applications. Consider a "matrix neighborhood," simply a patch surrounded
by matrix, a bog surrounded by spruce forest. A "multipatch neighborhood" has
patches in a matrix, a "network neighborhood" has attached corridors in a matrix,
and a "patchwork neighborhood" has only adjoining patches. Such a simplified
approach could conceptually mimic all local areas in a landscape, would be a basis
for studying and portraying internal flows and movements, and would be a useful
foundation for planning, design, management, and conservation. The neighbor
hood models could be expanded in many directions to, for example, have a focal
patch in each neighborhood, vary the number-size-type-arrangement of patches,
highlight adjacency effects, or link movements of water, sediment, and wildlife
with people, vehicle, and money flows in a neighborhood.
Landscapes and regions represent the confluence between natural patterns
processes and where people live. This dynamic confluence represents an area of
growing intellectual ferment, which promises exciting discoveries plus solutions
to visible ecological and societal problems around us. I suspect that the twenty
aughts will be the decade of landscape ecology, leading to visionary land mosaics
in which nature and people both thrive.
This book, Applying Landscape Ecology in Biological Conservation, uncovers
a cornucopia of new examples and case studies. Several unusual attributes also
appear. The editor has instilled a dependable structure in the chapters, which fa
cilitates comparisons among subject areas. Authors present principles as refresh
ingly brief statements in essentially every chapter. Taken together, these provide a
surprisingly valuable body of thought for applying landscape ecology. Some of
the principles are expressed graphically or mathematically, but most are in clear
verbal-statement form.
Many highly useful tables, plus analogous encapsulations in the text, lucidly
summarize world-wide applications in each topic area. This provides a glimpse of
x Foreword
both the mean and variance for patterns in a topic area. Each chapter ends with a
surprisingly detailed discussion of research needs or voids, a gold mine for students
searching for a term paper or thesis topic, as well as for researchers pondering
methods and frontiers.
Biological conservation regularly contends with ''the bulldozers are running"
situation. How can we put a book right to work that bulges with clearly stated
principles and clearly presented examples? Will landscape ecology lead to pro
tection of all, or only most, species? Is that good or bad? How can the landscape
approach help protect biological diversity through periods of war or poverty or a
bad economy? Suppose the focus shifted from protecting species to designing
landscapes where both nature thrives and people thrive. Would species suffer or
benefit?
My major inspiration and little epiphanies came from, and still come from, na
ture. But a good book can be a close second. The book in your hand has bench
mark attributes, promising a long useful shelf life. I found wisdom in the pages.
RICHARD T.T. FORMAN
Harvard University
Preface
Global declines in the diversity of living organisms are continuing at rates un
precedented in the history of life. Without question, human impacts on natural
systems are the primary cause, and with anticipated increases in the world's
human population size, additional biotic losses seem inescapable. Can the science
of landscape ecology be used to help reduce biological degradation? Yes. Appli
cations of landscape ecology in recent decades have already achieved some suc
cess in this regard. These applications have been fruitful because they have capi
talized on the fact that an organism's occurrence and persistence at a local site are
often influenced by conditions that exist and processes that operate at broader
spatial scales. Some conservationists have used knowledge of this ecological re
lation between local- and broad-scale phenomena to improve the realism of the
models and paradigms they use in management decisions.
Can the conservation benefits of applying landscape ecology be expanded sig
nificantly? Yes, but not without certain advances. Specifically, more of those who
carry out conservation on the ground must understand landscape-ecology con
cepts and how they can be used. Landscape ecology must be applied more fre
quently across multiple scales and jurisdictions and among multiple taxa and lev
els of biological organization. And new knowledge must be developed about how
landscape conditions affect organism movement, distribution, and persistence.
The purpose of this book is to spur these advances, by explaining pertinent
landscape-ecology concepts; by describing recent applications of landscape ecol
ogy as examples of possible management, research, or planning approaches; by
distilling principles for applying landscape ecology in conservation settings; by
identifying knowledge gaps that prevent applications of landscape ecology; and
by describing research approaches to fill those voids.
Chapter authors have written for graduate students who have training in ecol
ogy, conservation, and quantitative methods and who will become tomorrow's
Xl
xii Preface
managers and researchers. This book is directed at managers who want to learn
more about landscape ecology, how it has been and can be applied, and what
guiding principles to consider in such applications. Also targeted are researchers
interested in reducing scientific constraints that limit applications of landscape
ecology in biological conservation.
This volume is composed of five sections. The first of three chapters in Section I
(Introduction) provides background about landscapes and landscape ecology. This
chapter develops landscape-ecology concepts and explains how associated ecolog
ical phenomena may influence characteristics of natural systems that are of central
significance in conservation, it discusses issues that may influence integration of
landscape ecology into conservation efforts, and it briefly considers the future role
of landscape ecology in biological conservation. The remaining two chapters in
Section I address general concepts and principles that conservationists should be
aware of when trying to apply landscape ecology, emerging ideas and issues that
are likely to become increasingly important in the years ahead, basic ecological
connections between landscape ecology and conservation, and general approaches
for advancing applications of landscape ecology in biological conservation.
Building on these general foundations, chapters in Sections II (Multiple Scales,
Connectivity, and Organism Movement), ill (Landscape Change), and N (Con
servation Planning) provide specific treatment of various topics. In the context of
their particular subject matter, these chapters consider landscape-related concepts
and principles and how they have been applied (if at all) in conservation. Based
on actual applications, management experience, ecological science, and other
sources of information, authors of these chapters also derive principles for apply
ing landscape ecology. These principles will undergo refmement as new informa
tion about application successes and failures accumulates; the conservation im
pact of these principles will be maximized by tailoring them to fit a given
conservation problem. Thus, these are working principles that will serve as im
portant starting points and guideposts for conservationists.
Chapters in Sections II, ill, and N also reveal major theoretical and empirical
knowledge gaps that thwart landscape-ecology applications, and they provide re
search advice for filling these voids. In the absence of field data and sufficient
time to gather them, conservation decisions often have to be based on theoretical
considerations. Identifying and filling theoretical voids may improve the effec
tiveness of decision-making under these circumstances. When one considers the
focusing effects that theory (e.g., Theory of Island Biogeography) has had on
conservation-related analyses (e.g., estimation of acceptable size and isolation of
reserves), developed theory also is invaluable for steering conservation research.
Mounting losses of biological diversity are generating pressure to apply
landscape-ecology ideas, many of whose ecological validity remains unsubstanti
ated. Although crisis situations may justify limited application of incompletely
tested ideas, possible consequences of such an approach include misuse of pre
cious management resources, ineffective conservation programs, and the creation
of new conservation problems. Identifying and closing major empirical knowl
edge gaps will improve understanding of organism-landscape relations, reduce