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:
- 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;
- From a professional… an opportunity; and,
- 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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