Landscape ecology

Question 1

What is the definition of a landscape from an ecological perspective?

Answer 1

A mosaic of interacting ecosystems and an area that is spatially heterogeneous in at least one factor of interest.

Question 2

What is the definition of a landscape from an organism perspective?

Answer 2

It is the spatial distribution of a suitable habitat. The same physical area may represent different landscapes.

Question 3

What does landscape ecology allow connections between?

Answer 3

Patterns and processes.

Question 4

What does landscape ecology allow us to understand?

Answer 4

Species distribution, barriers to migration that result in speciation, the structure of genetic diversity, biodiversity drivers etc.

Question 5

What does Geographical Information Systems (GIS) allow?

Answer 5

Integration of data for use in landscape ecology. It involves collecting data by satellites.

Question 6

What is grain?

Answer 6

The minimum resolution of the data, defined by the cell or minimum polygon size.

Question 7

What is extent?

Answer 7

The scope or domain of the data, defined as the size of the landscape or study area under consideration.

Question 8

What are raw variables?

Answer 8

Variables such as temperature, atitude and reflectance.

Question 9

What are transformed variables?

Answer 9

Land cover as inferred from a combination of variables.

Question 10

What does binary mean?

Answer 10

Yes or no classificaion.

Question 11

What does categorical variable mean?

Answer 11

Multiple different areas that can be identified.

Question 12

What does gradient variable mean?

Answer 12

How a factor changes in more detailed ways than yes or no.

Question 13

What does locally homogeneous mean?

Answer 13

That within a heterogeneous landscape, there is an area that is made up of only one type.

Question 14

According to studies, how does heterogenity change with species diversity?

Answer 14

Directly proportional.

Question 15

What are other ways in which landscapes can be classified?

Answer 15

Composition - types of habitat, percentage, and configuration such as patch size, shape types of patch, connectivity between patches etc.

Question 16

How does biodiversity change as patch size increases?

Answer 16

Biodiversity increases.

Question 17

How does biodiversity change as habitat fragmentation increases?

Answer 17

Biodiversity increases.

Question 18

What have some experiments shown about fragmentation, biodiversity and patch size?

Answer 18

That fragmentation reduces biodiversity, but this relationship becomes weaker when looking at richness across the whole landscape, but that in both cases patches gain species faster than landscapes.

Question 19

How can patches be delineated?

Answer 19

You can define a rule for connectivity and join cells to clusters.

Question 20

How can edges of patches vary?

Answer 20

They might have higher diversity and different species from the core. They might have different microclimates, reduced access to resources, be more susceptible to invasion and have exposure to invasive species and diseases.