Lecture 22/ 23- Chapter 24

Question 1

Ecology at a Landscape Level

Answer 1

• 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

Question 1

Landscape Ecology Examines Spatial Patterns and their Relationship to Ecological Processes

Answer 1

• a tool used by conservation biologists (people) to preserve biodiversity

Question 2

Aerial Photography

Answer 2

• Drones, planes, and people on the ground which are taking pictures of the area and the landscape

Question 3

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Answer 3

• Can get images
• 17 years of information

Question 4

Lanscape Ecology

Answer 4

• emphasizes the causes and consequences of spatial variation in surface features and biota across a range of scales

Question 5

Landscape

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

Patch

Answer 6

• homogenous unit within a landscape

Question 7

Corridor

Answer 7

• linear element different from the matrix, function determined by form

Question 8

Matrix

Answer 8

• greatest area in the landscape, high degree of connectivity, dominant role in ecosystem dynamics

Question 9

Landscape Connectivity

Answer 9

• the degree to which the landscape facilitates or impedes movement among resources

Question 10

Dispersal

Answer 10

• Generally the key to recovery and resilience in the metapopulation

Question 11

Patch Connectivity

Answer 11

• Affects recovery of allelic diversity

Question 12

Landscape Heterogeneity

Answer 12

• described in terms of composition and spatial arrangements elements (structure)
• Disturbances are both created and influenced by landscape heterogeneity

Question 13

Ecosystems that Make up a Landscape

Answer 13

• Dynamic
• Interactions include flow of water, energy, nutrients, or pollutants between ecosystems

Question 14

Biotic Flow

Answer 14

• 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

Question 15

Habitat Loss and Fragmentation

Answer 15

• Decrease habitat area
• Isolate populations
• Alter conditions at habitat edges

Question 16

Fragmentation

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

When a Habitat is Fragmented

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

Edges

Answer 18

• increase as fragmentation increases
• Total length of habitat boundary

Question 19

Edge Effects

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

Designing Nature Reserves

Answer 20

• 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

Question 21

Ecosystem Management

Answer 21

• 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