Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

McGarigal, Kevin; Marks, Barbara J. 1995. FRAGSTATS: spatial pattern analysis program for quantifying landscape structure. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-351. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 122 p. This report describes a program, FRAGSTATS, developed to quantify landscape structure. FRAGSTATS offers a comprehensive choice of landscape metrics and was designed to be as versatile as possible. The program is almost completely automated and thus requires little technical training. Two separate versions of FRAGSTATS exist: one for vector images and one for raster images. The vector version is an Arc/Info AML that accepts Arc/Info polygon coverages. The raster version is a C program that accepts ASCII image files, 8or 16-bit binary image files, Arc/Info SVF files, Erdas image files, and IDRISI image files. Both versions of FRAGSTATS generate the same array of metrics, including a variety of area metrics, patch density, size and variability metrics, edge metrics, shape metrics, core area metrics, diversity metrics, and contagion and interspersion metrics. The raster version also computes several nearest neighbor metrics. In this report, each metric calculated by FRAGSTATS is described in terms of its ecological application and limitations. Example landscapes are included, and a discussion is provided of each metric as it relates to the sample landscapes. Several important concepts and definitions critical to the assessment of landscape structure are discussed. The appendices include a complete list of algorithms, the units and ranges of each metric, examples of the FRAGSTATS output files, and a users guide describing how to install and run FRAGSTATS.

https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr351.pdf

FRAGSTATS: spatial pattern analysis program for quantifying landscape structure

Habitat fragmentation implies a loss of habitat, reduced patch size and an increasing distance between patches, but also an increase of new habitat. Simulations of patterns and geometry of landscapes with decreasing proportion of the suitable habitat give rise to the prediction that the effect of habitat fragmentation on e.g. population size of a species would be primarily through habitat loss in landscape with a high proportion of suitable habitat. However, ast the proportion of suitable habitat

Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: a review

Landscape ecology is based on the premise that there are strong links between ecological pattern and ecological function and process. Ecological systems are spatially heterogeneous, exhibiting considerable complexity and variability in time and space. This variability is typically represented by categorical maps or by a collection of samples taken at specific spatial locations (point data). Categorical maps quantize variability by identifying patches that are relatively homogeneous and that exhibit a relatively abrupt transition to adjacent areas. Alternatively, point-data analysis (geostatistics) assumes that the system property is spatially continuous, making fewer assumptions about the nature of spatial structure. Each data model provides capabilities that the other does not, and they should be considered complementary. Although the concept of patches is intuitive and consistent with much of ecological theory, point-data analysis can answer two of the most critical questions in spatial pattern analysis: what is the appropriate scale to conduct the analysis, and what is the nature of the spatial structure? I review the techniques to evaluate categorical maps and spatial point data, and make observations about the interpretation of spatial pattern indices and the appropriate application of the techniques. Pattern analysis techniques are most useful when applied and interpreted in the context of the organism(s) and ecological processes of interest, and at appropriate scales, although some may be useful as coarse-filter indicators of ecosystem function. I suggest several important needs for future research, including continued investigation of scaling issues, development of indices that measure specific components of spatial pattern, and efforts to make point-data analysis more compatible with ecological theory.

https://www.umass.edu/landeco/teaching/landscape_ecology/references/Gustafson_1998.pdf

Quantifying Landscape Spatial Pattern: What Is the State of the Art?

The location and mechanisms responsible for the carbon sink in northern mid-latitude lands are uncertain. Here, we used an improved estimation method of forest biomass and a 50-year national forest resource inventory in China to estimate changes in the storage of living biomass between 1949 and 1998. Our results suggest that Chinese forests released about 0.68 petagram of carbon between 1949 and 1980, for an annual emission rate of 0.022 petagram of carbon. Carbon storage increased significantly after the late 1970s from 4.38 to 4.75 petagram of carbon by 1998, for a mean accumulation rate of 0.021 petagram of carbon per year, mainly due to forest expansion and regrowth. Since the mid-1970s, planted forests (afforestation and reforestation) have sequestered 0.45 petagram of carbon, and their average carbon density increased from 15.3 to 31.1 megagrams per hectare, while natural forests have lost an additional 0.14 petagram of carbon, suggesting that carbon sequestration through forest management practices addressed in the Kyoto Protocol could help offset industrial carbon dioxide emissions.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/292/5525/2320.full.pdf

Changes in Forest Biomass Carbon Storage in China Between 1949 and 1998

A half-century policy of forest exploitation and monoculture in China has led to disastrous consequences, including degradation of forests and landscapes, loss of biodiversity, unacceptable levels of soil erosion, and catastrophic flooding. A new forest policy had been adopted in China called the Natural Forest conservation Program (NFCP), which emphasizes expansion of natural forests and increasing the productivity of forest plantations. Through locally focused management strategies, biodiversity and forest resources will be sustained, and downstream regions will be better protected from flooding. This new policy is being implemented with a new combination of policy tools, including technical training and education, land management planning, mandatory conversion of marginal farmlands to forest, resettlement and retaining of forest dwellers, share in private ownership, and expanded research. These policy tools may have wider relevance for other countries, particularly developing countries.

China's forest policy for the 21st century.

Recent studies have related percolation theory and critical phenomena to the spatial pattern of landscapes. We generated simulated landscapes of forest and non-forest landcover to investigate the relationship between the proportion of forest (Pi) and indices of patch spatial pattern. One set of landscapes was generated by randomly assigning each pixel independently of other pixels, and a second set was generated by randomly assigning rectilinear clumps of pixels. Indices of spatial pattern were calculated and plotted against Pi. The random-clump landscapes were also compared with real agricultural landscapes. The results support the use of percolation models as neutral models in landscape ecology, and the performance of the indices studied with these neutral models can be used to help interpret those indices calculated for real landscapes.

Relationships between landcover proportion and indices of landscape spatial pattern

https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/jrnl/1994/nc_1994_Gustafson_002.pdf

Using an index of habitat patch proximity for landscape design

Tree dynamics in an old-growth, deciduous forest

Old-growth forests have been noted for containing significant quantities of deadwood. However, there has been no coordinated effort to quantify the deadwood component of old-growth remnants across large regions of temperate deciduous forest. We present results of a regional inventorythatquantifies and examines regional and temporal trends fordeadwood in upland old-growth forest remnants within Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa. From 1992 to 1994, down wood 2 10 cm in diameter and standing trees 2 10 cm dbh were inventoried on 328 one-tenth ha plots at 12 sites. The mean ratio among the sites by diameter class of the number of standing dead to standing live trees (dead/live ratio) ranged from 0.08 to 0.11 and was consistent fortrees 565 cm in diameter. The dead/ live tree ratio was generally greater for old-growth than for mature second-growth forests (70 to 90 yr old). Mean volume of standing dead trees across all old-growth sites was 21.4 m3/ha and down wood was 60.4 m3/ha. However, both standing and down wood volume (total deadwood) increased along a regional gradient of increasing productivity from southwest Missouri to northeast Indiana and also increased with increasing age of dominant and codominant trees. Old-growth forests on high productivity sites averaged more pieces/ha of down wood in all diameter classes and higher volume/ ha of down wood in nearly all diameter classes than did old-growth forests on low productivity sites. A chronosequence of forests from 10 yr to more than 200 yr since stand establishment indicated a sharply declining down wood volume from age 10 to 70 yr followed by increasing volume between 80

/pdf/regional-distribution-and-dynamics-of-coarse-woody-debris-in-x5efi2oc3m.pdf

George R. Parker

Papers

China's forest policy for the 21st century.

Relationships between landcover proportion and indices of landscape spatial pattern

Using an index of habitat patch proximity for landscape design

Tree dynamics in an old-growth, deciduous forest

Regional distribution and dynamics of coarse woody debris in Midwestern old-growth forests