Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes can be increased with conversion of some production lands into 'more-natural'- unmanaged or extensively managed - lands. However, it remains unknown to what extent biodiversity can be enhanced by altering landscape pattern without reducing agricultural production. We propose a framework for this problem, considering separately compositional heterogeneity (the number and proportions of different cover types) and configurational heterogeneity (the spatial arrangement of cover types). Cover type classification and mapping is based on species requirements, such as feeding and nesting, resulting in measures of 'functional landscape heterogeneity'. We then identify three important questions: does biodiversity increase with (1) increasing heterogeneity of the more-natural areas, (2) increasing compositional heterogeneity of production cover types and (3) increasing configurational heterogeneity of production cover types? We discuss approaches for addressing these questions. Such studies should have high priority because biodiversity protection globally depends increasingly on maintaining biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes.

Functional landscape heterogeneity and animal biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes can be increased with conversion of some production lands into more-natural – unmanaged or extensively managed – lands. However, it remains unknown to what extent biodiversity can be enhanced by altering landscape pattern without reducing agricultural production. We propose a framework for this problem, considering separately compositional heterogeneity (the number and proportions of different cover types) and configurational heterogeneity (the spatial arrangement of cover types). Cover type classification and mapping is based on species requirements, such as feeding and nesting, resulting in measures of functional landscape heterogeneity. We then identify three important questions: does biodiversity increase with (1) increasing heterogeneity of the more-natural areas, (2) increasing compositional heterogeneity of production cover types and (3) increasing configurational heterogeneity of production cover types? We discuss approaches for addressing these questions. Such studies should have high priority because biodiversity protection globally depends increasingly on maintaining biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes.

http://biodiversitat.ctfc.es/ECOLAND/Publicacions/Articles_SCI/2010_Fahrig_Martin_Brotons_etal_Ecology_Letters.pdf

PERSPECTIVE Functional landscape heterogeneity and animal biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

▪ Abstract Landscape ecology focuses on the reciprocal interactions between spatial pattern and ecological processes, and it is well integrated with ecology. The field has grown rapidly over the past 15 years. The persistent influence of land-use history and natural disturbance on contemporary ecosystems has become apparent. Development of pattern metrics has largely stabilized, and they are widely used to relate landscape pattern to ecological responses. Analyses conducted at multiple scales have demonstrated the importance of landscape pattern for many taxa, and spatially mediated interspecific interactions are receiving increased attention. Disturbance remains prominent in landscape studies, and current research is addressing disturbance interactions. Integration of ecosystem and landscape ecology remains challenging but should enhance understanding of landscape function. Landscape ecology should continue to refine knowledge of when spatial heterogeneity is fundamentally important, rigorously test the ...

/pdf/landscape-ecology-what-is-the-state-of-science-1qj9m9bw8y.pdf

Landscape ecology: what is the state of science?

Morphodynamics of Holocene salt marshes: a review sketch from the Atlantic and Southern North Sea coasts of Europe

/pdf/landscape-ecology-what-is-the-state-of-the-science-56vps4fewn.pdf

Landscape ecology: what is the state of the science?

There is a pressing need to integrate biophysical and human dimensions science to better inform holistic ecosystem management supporting the transition from single species or single-sector management to multi-sector ecosystem-based management. Ecosystem-based management should focus upon ecosystem services, since they reflect societal goals, values, desires, and benefits. The inclusion of ecosystem services into holistic management strategies improves management by better capturing the diversity of positive and negative human-natural interactions and making explicit the benefits to society. To facilitate this inclusion, we propose a conceptual model that merges the broadly applied Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, and Response (DPSIR) conceptual model with ecosystem services yielding a Driver, Pressure, State, Ecosystem service, and Response (EBM-DPSER) conceptual model. The impact module in traditional DPSIR models focuses attention upon negative anthropomorphic impacts on the ecosystem; by replacing impacts with ecosystem services the EBM-DPSER model incorporates not only negative, but also positive changes in the ecosystem. Responses occur as a result of changes in ecosystem services and include inter alia management actions directed at proactively altering human population or individual behavior and infrastructure to meet societal goals. The EBM-DPSER conceptual model was applied to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas marine ecosystem as a case study to illustrate how it can inform management decisions. This case study captures our system-level understanding and results in a more holistic representation of ecosystem and human society interactions, thus improving our ability to identify trade-offs. The EBM-DPSER model should be a useful operational tool for implementing EBM, in that it fully integrates our knowledge of all ecosystem components while focusing management attention upon those aspects of the ecosystem most important to human society and does so within a framework already familiar to resource managers.

/pdf/the-ebm-dpser-conceptual-model-integrating-ecosystem-22pdlhks50.pdf

The EBM-DPSER Conceptual Model: Integrating Ecosystem Services into the DPSIR Framework

An annual water budget for Florida Bay, the large, seasonally hypersaline estuary in the Everglades National Park, was constructed using physically based models and long-term (31 years) data on salinity, hydrology, and climate. Effects of seasonal and interannual variations of the net freshwater supply (runoff plus rainfall minus evaporation) on salinity variation within the bay were also examined. Particular attention was paid to the effects of runoff, which are the focus of ambitious plans to restore and conserve the Florida Bay ecosystem. From 1965 to 1995 the annual runoff from the Everglades into the bay was less than one tenth of the annual direct rainfall onto the bay, while estimated annual evaporation slightly exceeded annual rainfall. The average net freshwater supply to the bay over a year was thus approximately zero, and interannual variations in salinity appeared to be affected primarily by interannual fluctuations in rainfall. At the annual scale, runoff apparently had little effect on the bay as a whole during this period. On a seasonal basis, variations in rainfall, evaporation, and runoff were not in phase, and the net freshwater supply to the bay varied between positive and negative values, contributing to a strong seasonal pattern in salinity, especially in regions of the bay relatively isolated from exchanges with the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean. Changes in runoff could have a greater effect on salinity in the bay if the seasonal patterns of rainfall and evaporation and the timing of the runoff are considered. One model was also used to simulate spatial and temporal patterns of salinity responses expected to result from changes in net freshwater supply. Simulations in which runoff was increased by a factor of 2 (but with no change in spatial pattern) indicated that increased runoff will lower salinity values in eastern Florida Bay, increase the variability of salinity in the South Region, but have little effect on salinity in the Central and West Regions.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/1999WR900352

Influence of net freshwater supply on salinity in Florida Bay

The salinity of Florida Bay has undergone dramatic changes over the past century. Salinity values reached their most extreme, up to 70, in the late 1980s, concurrent with ecological changes in Florida Bay including a mass seagrass die-off. In this study, surface salinity was measured at approximately monthly intervals between 1998 and 2004. The 7-year data set was analyzed to quantify the effects of precipitation, runoff, evaporation, and climatic variability on salinity in Florida Bay. Overall mean Bay-wide salinity varied from a low of 24.2 just after the passing of Hurricane Irene in October 1999 to a high of 41.8 near the end of a drought period in July 2001. Bay-wide mean salinity exhibited dramatic decreases, up to −0.5 per day, whereas increases were slower, with a maximum rate of 0.1 per day. The freshwater budget for Florida Bay was slightly negative on an annual basis with significant positive monthly values observed during the peak of the rainy season (August through October) and significant negative monthly values observed during the peak of the dry season (March through May). This resulted in a minimum mean monthly Bay-wide salinity in January and a maximum monthly mean in July. Mean salinity for the overall Bay and for each of its four sub-regions could be predicted with reasonable accuracy utilizing a mass balance box model. There was no monotonic trend in salinity over this 7-year study; however, meteorological phenomena, such as tropical cyclones and El Nino-Southern Oscillation, dramatically altered the salinity patterns of Florida Bay on interannual time scales.

Salinity patterns of Florida Bay

Population Ecology in Spatially Heterogeneous Environments

https://water.usgs.gov/nrp/jharvey/pdf/JourHydrol_1995_v164_p109.pdf

William K. Nuttle

Papers

The EBM-DPSER Conceptual Model: Integrating Ecosystem Services into the DPSIR Framework

Influence of net freshwater supply on salinity in Florida Bay

Salinity patterns of Florida Bay

Population Ecology in Spatially Heterogeneous Environments

Fluxes of water and solute in a coastal wetland sediment. 2. Effect of macropores on solute exchange with surface water