Lecture 22/ 23- Chapter 24 Flashcards
1
Q
Ecology at a Landscape Level
A
- Has been made possible by new tools that can view the environment at many scales
1. Aerial Photography
2. Remote Sensing Satellites
3. Geographic information systems (GIS) - The data, such as rainfall, vegetation, land use, are keyed to geographic locations and displayed as maps
1
Q
Landscape Ecology Examines Spatial Patterns and their Relationship to Ecological Processes
A
- a tool used by conservation biologists (people) to preserve biodiversity
2
Q
Aerial Photography
A
- Drones, planes, and people on the ground which are taking pictures of the area and the landscape
3
Q
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
A
- Can get images
- 17 years of information
4
Q
Lanscape Ecology
A
- emphasizes the causes and consequences of spatial variation in surface features and biota across a range of scales
5
Q
Landscape
A
- An area that is spatially heterogeneous in one or more features of the environment, such as the number of arrangement of different habitat types; a landscape typically includes multiple ecosystems
6
Q
Patch
A
- homogenous unit within a landscape
7
Q
Corridor
A
- linear element different from the matrix, function determined by form
8
Q
Matrix
A
- greatest area in the landscape, high degree of connectivity, dominant role in ecosystem dynamics
9
Q
Landscape Connectivity
A
- the degree to which the landscape facilitates or impedes movement among resources
10
Q
Dispersal
A
- Generally the key to recovery and resilience in the metapopulation
11
Q
Patch Connectivity
A
- Affects recovery of allelic diversity
12
Q
Landscape Heterogeneity
A
- described in terms of composition and spatial arrangements elements (structure)
- Disturbances are both created and influenced by landscape heterogeneity
13
Q
Ecosystems that Make up a Landscape
A
- Dynamic
- Interactions include flow of water, energy, nutrients, or pollutants between ecosystems
14
Q
Biotic Flow
A
- animals, seeds, pollen, etc., move between ecosystems
- Patches must be connected, or the surrounding habitat (the matrix) must be suitable for dispersal.
- health of ecosystems
15
Q
Habitat Loss and Fragmentation
A
- Decrease habitat area
- Isolate populations
- Alter conditions at habitat edges
16
Q
Fragmentation
A
- results in increasing degradation and edge effects
- results in spatial isolation of populations, making them vulnerable to the problems of small populations
- Often leads to loss of top predators, giving rise to cascading effects
- If flying from one patch to another requires to much energy you’ve wasted it all even if your a top predator
17
Q
When a Habitat is Fragmented
A
- Some species go extinct in many of the fragments
- There may be inadequate resources, disruption of mutualisms, or not enough range for foraging
- some species flourish under the changed conditions
18
Q
Edges
A
- increase as fragmentation increases
- Total length of habitat boundary
19
Q
Edge Effects
A
- biotic and abiotic changes associated with this boundary
- physical environment
changes over a certain distance into the fragment, and thus biological interactions and ecological processes change as well - more acceptable to a predator
20
Q
Designing Nature Reserves
A
- some spatial designs are better than others for foresting biodiversity
- Large, compact and connected reserves are usually ideal
- Smaller or disconnected reserves may sometimes be more desirable
(E.g., diseases would spread less quickly in isolated patches) - Small and closer together is better than further apart
21
Q
Ecosystem Management
A
- A collaborative process with the maintenance of long-term ecological integrity as its core value
- Educating the public about their reliance on ecosystem services is part of the ecosystem management
- challenges are considerable
