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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #100644
Title: LANDSCAPE DIVERSITY

Author
item Peters, Debra
item Goslee, Sarah

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/2/1999
Publication Date: 10/25/2000
Citation: PETERS, D.C., GOSLEE, S.C. LANDSCAPE DIVERSITY. LEVIN, S., EDITOR. ACADEMIC PRESS, PRINCETON, NJ. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIODIVERSITY. 2000. V. 3. P. 648-658.

Interpretive Summary: Interpretive summary not required.

Technical Abstract: While biodiversity is usually considered at the species level, maintenance of biodiversity requires management at higher levels of organization, particularly at the landscape scale. It is difficult to manage for each threatened species individually. Alternatively, management can focus on the ecosystems that contain these species, and on the landscapes where ecosystems are found. The relatively new discipline of landscape ecology provides insight into both landscape diversity and species diversity, and suggests a theoretical and practical basis for conservation planning. There are three basic characteristics of landscapes that affect their diversity: structure, function and dynamics. Structure is the most well-understood element of landscapes. It is also the most obvious- nearly any aerial view will show a mixture of different landforms, habitats, or vegetation types. The patch is the basic unit of landscape structure. The characteristics of patches and the spatial relationships among patches are important components of landscapes. The distributions of energy, materials, and species among patches differing in size, shape, abundance, and configuration are particularly important to patterns in diversity at the landscape scale. The other two elements of landscapes go beyond a description of spatial heterogeneity. Function is concerned with interactions among the spatial elements of a landscape, including flows of energy, materials, and species among patches. Landscape dynamics includes characteristics of both structure and function in order to examine changes in pattern and process over time. Conservation and management of biodiversity requires understanding of all three of these elements, including the effects of human activities on the system.