Conservationists are far from able to assist all species under threat, if only for lack of funding. This places a premium on priorities: how can we support the most species at the least cost? One way is to identify 'biodiversity hotspots' where exceptional concentrations of endemic species are undergoing exceptional loss of habitat. As many as 44% of all species of vascular plants and 35% of all species in four vertebrate groups are confined to 25 hotspots comprising only 1.4% of the land surface of the Earth. This opens the way for a 'silver bullet' strategy on the part of conservation planners, focusing on these hotspots in proportion to their share of the world's species at risk.

Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities

This book is the second of two volumes in a series on terrestrial and marine comparisons, focusing on the temporal complement of the earlier spatial analysis of patchiness and pattern (Levin et al. 1993). The issue of the relationships among pattern, scale, and patchiness has been framed forcefully in John Steele’s writings of two decades (e.g., Steele 1978). There is no pattern without an observational frame. In the words of Nietzsche, “There are no facts… only interpretations.”

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/1941447

The Problem of Pattern and Scale in Ecology: The Robert H. MacArthur Award Lecture

Interactions between organisms are a major determinant of the distribution and abundance of species. Ecology textbooks (e.g., Ricklefs 1984, Krebs 1985, Begon et al. 1990) summarise these important interactions as intra- and interspecific competition for abiotic and biotic resources, predation, parasitism and mutualism. Conspicuously lacking from the list of key processes in most text books is the role that many organisms play in the creation, modification and maintenance of habitats. These activities do not involve direct trophic interactions between species, but they are nevertheless important and common. The ecological literature is rich in examples of habitat modification by organisms, some of which have been extensively studied (e.g. Thayer 1979, Naiman et al. 1988).

Organisms as ecosystem engineers

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

The widespread occurrence of nitrogen limitation to net primary production in terrestrial and marine ecosystems is something of a puzzle; it would seem that nitrogen fixers should have a substantial competitive advantage wherever nitrogen is limiting, and that their activity in turn should reverse limitation. Nevertheless, there is substantial evidence that nitrogen limits net primary production much of the time in most terrestrial biomes and many marine ecosystems. We examine both how the biogeochemistry of the nitrogen cycle could cause limitation to develop, and how nitrogen limitation could persist as a consequence of processes that prevent or reduce nitrogen fixation. Biogeochemical mechansism that favor nitrogen limitation include: A number of mechanisms could keep nitrogen fixation from reversing nitrogen limitation. These include: The possible importance of these and other processes is discussed for a wide range of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems.

Nitrogen limitation on land and in the sea: How can it occur?

The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics.

Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East.

http://phylodiversity.net/borneo-course/docs/proctor1983.pdf

Ecological studies in four contrasting lowland rain forests in Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak I. Forest environment, structure, and floristics

Nature and Dynamics of Forest-Savanna Boundaries.

Part I: Introduction: boundaries and processes. Part II: Physical environment at the boundary. Part III: Environmental change and vegetation history. Part IV: Vegetation structure and dynamics at the boundary. Part V: Animals at the forest-savanna boundary. Part VI: Modelling of the boundary. Index.

J. Proctor

Papers

The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics.

Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East.

Ecological studies in four contrasting lowland rain forests in Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak I. Forest environment, structure, and floristics

Nature and Dynamics of Forest-Savanna Boundaries.

Nature and dynamics of forest-savanna boundaries