Landscape Boundaries Consequences for Biotic Diversity and Ecological Flows

About this book

The emergence of landscape ecology during the 1980s represents an important maturation of ecological theory. Once enamored with the conceptual beauty of well-balanced, homogeneous ecosystems, ecologists now assert that much of the essence of ecological systems lies in their lumpiness. Patches with differing properties and behaviors lie strewn across the land­scape, products of the complex interactions of climate, disturbance, and biotic processes. It is the collective behavior of this patchwork of ecosystems that drives pattern and process of the landscape. This realization of the importance of patch dynamics in itself, however, is not an end point. Rather, it is a passage to a new conceptual framework, the internal workings of which remain obscure. The next tier of questions includes: What are the fundamental pieces that compose a landscape? How are these pieces bounded? To what extent do these boundaries influence communication and interaction among patches of the landscape? Will con­sideration of the interactions among landscape elements help us to under­stand the workings of landscapes? At the core of these questions lies the notion of the ecotone, a term with a lineage that even predates ecosystem. Late in the nineteenth century, F. E. Clements realized that the transition zones between plant communi­ties had properties distinct from either of the adjacent communities. Not until the emergence of patch dynamics theory, however, has central signif­icance of the ecotone concept become apparent.

Contents

I General Patterns and Properties of Ecotones
1. The Environment and Development Crises as Determinants of Landscape Dynamics
2. Ecotone Dynamics in Space and Time
3. Ecological Functions in a Biome Transition Zone: Translating Local Responses to Broad-Scale Dynamics
4. Human Impact on Landscape Patterning: Mediterranean Examples
5. Quantitative Methods for Studying Landscape Boundaries

II Biodiversity and Ecotones
6. Regional and Local Vegetation Patterns: The Responses of Vegetation Diversity to Subcontinental Air Masses
7. Local Extinctions, Habitat Fragmentation, and Ecotones
8. Avian Community Dynamics: The Interplay of Landscape Trajectories and Species Life Histories
9. Distribution and Dynamics of Soil Organisms Across Ecotones

III Ecological Flows and Ecotones
10. Ecological Flows Across Landscape Boundaries: A Conceptual Overview
11. Theoretical Foundations for Understanding Boundaries in Landscape Mosaics
12. A Percolation Model of Ecological Flows
13. Energy and Material Flows Across Boundaries in Agricultural Landscapes
14. Changes in Plant Ecophysiology Across a Central European Hedgerow Ecotone
15. Landforms, Disturbance, and Ecotones

IV Case Studies
16. Water Flows and the Dynamics of Desert Vegetation Stripes
17. Dynamics of Montane Treelines
18. Sharp and Gradual Mountain Timberlines as a Result of Species Interactions
19. Use of Simulation Models to Evaluate the Alteration of Ecotones by Global Carbon Dioxide Increases
20. Transitional Climate Zones and Biome Boundaries: A Case Study from China
21. Coastal Zone Ecotones

V Synthesis
22. Epilogue: Biodiversity and Ecological Flows Across Ecotones

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