Author: Morgan Gray
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 76
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Book Description
The built environment, especially roads, urban and suburban development, can reduce the ability for wildlife to move across landscapes. Maintaining landscape connectivity has become a central theme in ecology and conservation, as corridors of intact habitat help maintain ecosystem functionality and, in the face of climate change, may provide migration paths for species. However, the influence of the built environment on connectivity is rarely quantified using empirical data informed by species detection, movement, or genetic structure. Rather, structural connectivity, as opposed to functional connectivity, is estimated using land cover alone. Structural connectivity estimates offer a simple and potentially powerful approach with fewer data requirements for wildlife corridor planning; however, models of structural connectivity are rarely if ever evaluated with empirical species data, limiting our understanding of their reliability and utility. This dissertation fills this gap by investigating the influence of human land use and habitat fragmentation on landscape connectivity using a suite of quantitative modeling approaches and mammals as the focal species, including cross comparisons among these approaches. Specifically, three methods that vary in levels of biological information are used to evaluate how well structural connectivity models perform for individual species, as well as their relationship to functional connectivity. To begin with, the utility of a structural connectivity model based on the distribution and intensity of land use is evaluated by comparing model predictions to observed land use by a generalist carnivore, the puma (Puma concolor). Findings from this study indicate that generic landscape permeability models can be used with confidence as a guide when prioritizing habitat corridors for biodiversity conservation across fragmented landscapes. Next, the utility of structural connectivity models is further evaluated by examining how the inclusion of specific human land use variables affects model accuracy in a species distribution model for gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). Findings from this study indicate that species distribution models generated in human-dominated landscapes have higher accuracy when informed by indices of land use. Finally, a combination of spatial and genetic methods is used to evaluate the influence of roads on the functional connectivity for a small mammal, California ground squirrels (Otospermophilus beecheyi). Findings from this study indicate that a combined spatial and genetic approach can be used to identify locations where roads act as barriers. Given the importance of habitat fragmentation, there is a pressing need to rapidly develop and utilize connectivity assessment methods in conservation planning. Research findings presented here have already impacted mammal conservation planning and management in California in the following specific ways. The structural connectivity model was used to identify priority habitat linkages for inclusion in the Conservation Blueprint for Santa Cruz County, and the combined genetic and spatial approach was used by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, CA to identify corridors and restore connectivity in an area with an existing road network. Beyond these regional impacts, future conservation planning worldwide can benefit from using readily available data collected by citizen scientists as input in predictive mapping to increase the sample size and spatial coverage for species distribution modeling.
Author: David B. Lindenmayer
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 159726606X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 349
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Book Description
Habitat loss and degradation that comes as a result of human activity is the single biggest threat to biodiversity in the world today. Habitat Fragmentation and Landscape Change is a groundbreaking work that brings together a wealth of information from a wide range of sources to define the ecological problems caused by landscape change and to highlight the relationships among landscape change, habitat fragmentation, and biodiversity conservation. The book: synthesizes a large body of information from the scientific literature considers key theoretical principles for examining and predicting effects examines the range of effects that can arise explores ways of mitigating impacts reviews approaches to studying the problem discusses knowledge gaps and future areas for research and management Habitat Fragmentation and Landscape Change offers a unique mix of theoretical and practical information, outlining general principles and approaches and illustrating those principles with case studies from around the world. It represents a definitive overview and synthesis on the full range of topics that fall under the widely used but often vaguely defined term "habitat fragmentation."
Author: Andrew F. Bennett
Publisher: IUCN
ISBN: 2831707447
Category : Corridors
Languages : en
Pages : 261
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Book Description
The loss and fragmentation of natural habitats is one of the major issues in wildlife management and conservation. Habitat "corridors" are sometimes proposed as an important element within a conservation strategy. Examples are given of corridors both as pathways and as habitats in their own right. Includes detailed reviews of principles relevant to the design and management of corridors, their place in regional approaches to conservation planning, and recommendations for research and management.
Author: Robert H. MacArthur
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691088365
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 226
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Book Description
Population theory.
Author: Yeqiao Wang
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0429819048
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 614
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Book Description
Authored by world-class scientists and scholars, The Handbook of Natural Resources, Second Edition, is an excellent reference for understanding the consequences of changing natural resources to the degradation of ecological integrity and the sustainability of life. Based on the content of the bestselling and CHOICE-awarded Encyclopedia of Natural Resources, this new edition demonstrates the major challenges that the society is facing for the sustainability of all well-being on the planet Earth. The experience, evidence, methods, and models used in studying natural resources are presented in six stand-alone volumes, arranged along the main systems of land, water, and air. It reviews state-of-the-art knowledge, highlights advances made in different areas, and provides guidance for the appropriate use of remote sensing and geospatial data with field-based measurements in the study of natural resources. Volume 2, Landscape and Land Capacity, covers soils and landscape issues, their diversity and importance, and how soils are related to the landscapes in which they form. It includes discussions on land conservation, land-use and land-cover changes, and urban environments and unravels the complex bond between humans and soils. New in this edition are discussions on habitat conservation and planning, landscape epidemiology and vector-borne disease, and landscape patterns and changes. This volume demonstrates the key processes, methods, and models used through several practical case studies from around the world. Written in an easy-to-reference manner, The Handbook of Natural Resources, Second Edition, as individual volumes or as a complete set, is an essential reading for anyone looking for a deeper understanding of the science and management of natural resources. Public and private libraries, educational and research institutions, scientists, scholars, and resource managers will benefit enormously from this set. Individual volumes and chapters can also be used in a wide variety of both graduate and undergraduate courses in environmental science and natural science at different levels and disciplines, such as biology, geography, earth system science, and ecology.
Author: Kevin Gutzwiller
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461300592
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536
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Book Description
This book provides a current synthesis of principles and applications in landscape ecology and conservation biology. Bringing together insights from leaders in landscape ecology and conservation biology, it explains how principles of landscape ecology can help us understand, manage and maintain biodiversity. Gutzwiller also identifies gaps in current knowledge and provides research approaches to fill those voids.
Author: João C. Azevedo
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1493909533
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271
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Book Description
Climate change, urban sprawl, abandonment of agriculture, intensification of forestry and agriculture, changes in energy generation and use, expansion of infrastructure networks, habitat destruction and degradation, and other drivers of change occur at increasing rates. They affect patterns and processes in forest landscapes, and modify ecosystem services derived from those ecosystems. Consequently, rapidly changing landscapes present many new challenges to scientists and managers. While it is not uncommon to encounter the terms “global change” and “landscape” together in the ecological literature, a global analyses of drivers of change in forest landscapes, and their ecological consequences have not been addressed adequately. That is the goal of this volume: an exploration of the state of knowledge of global changes in forested landscapes with emphasis on causes and effects, and challenges faced by researchers and land managers. Initial chapters identify and describe major agents of landscape change: climate, fire, and human activities. The next series of chapters address implications of changes on ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation and carbon flux. A chapter that describes methodologies of detecting and monitoring landscape changes is presented followed by chapter that highlights the many challenges forest landscape managers face amidst of global change. Finally, we present a summary and a synthesis of the main points presented in the book. Each chapter will contain the individual research experiences of chapter authors, augmented by review and synthesis of global scientific literature on relevant topics, as well as critical input from multiple peer reviewers.
Author: James Arthur Rochelle
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004113886
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340
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Book Description
The book contains 15 chapters and provides an overview and synthesis of forest fragmentation and its influences on key ecological processes and vertebrate productivity. Land use practices and their effects on vertebrate populations and productivity are discussed and examples of several planning approaches to address landscape-level management effects are described.
Author: Lawrence Kapustka
Publisher: ASTM International
ISBN: 9780803134768
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 340
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Book Description
Author: James Sanderson
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9781420048674
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 270
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Book Description
Landscape Ecology - a rapidly growing science - quantifies the ways ecosystems interact. It establishes links between activities in one region and repercussions in another. Landscape Ecology: A Top-Down Approach serves as a general introduction to this emerging area of study. In this book the authors take a "top down" approach. They believe that
