A Framework for Landscape Ecological Design of New Patches in the Rural Landscape

This study developed a comprehensive framework to incorporate landscape ecological principles into the landscape planning and design process, with a focus on the design of new patches in the rural landscape. The framework includes two interrelated phases: patch analyst (PA) and patch designer (PD). The patch analyst augments the process of landscape inventory and analysis. It distinguishes nodes (associated with potential habitat patches) from links (associated with corridors and stepping stones between habitats). For natural vegetation patches, characteristics such as size, shape, and spatial arrangement have been used to develop analytical tools that distinguish between nodes and links. The patch designer uses quantitative information and analytical tools to recommend locations, shapes, sizes, and composition of introduced patches. The framework has been applied to the development of a new golf course in the rural Mediterranean landscape of Apulia, Southern Italy. Fifty new patches of Mediterranean maquis (24 patches) and garrigue (26 patches) have been designed and located in the golf course, raising the overall natural vegetation area to 70 ha (60% of total property). The framework has potential for use in a wide variety of landscape planning, design, and management projects.

[1]  Michael L. Rosenzweig,et al.  Species Diversity in Space and Time , 1997 .

[2]  A. Hailey.  The effects of fire and mechanical habitat destruction on survival of the tortoise Testudo hermanni in northern Greece , 2000 .

[3]  C. Schonewald-Cox,et al.  The boundary model: A geographical analysis of design and conservation of nature reserves , 1986 .

[4]  Sheila Peck.  Planning for Biodiversity: Issues And Examples , 1998 .

[5]  L. C. Drickamer,et al.  Impact of forest patch characteristics on small mammal communities: a multivariate approach , 2001 .

[6]  J. Bogaert,et al.  The Interior-to-Edge Breakpoint Distance as a Guideline for Nature Conservation Policy , 2001, Environmental management.

[7]  K. McGarigal,et al.  FRAGSTATS: spatial pattern analysis program for quantifying landscape structure. , 1995 .

[8]  J. Baird Callicott,et al.  Issues and applications , 2005 .

[9]  L. Fahrig,et al.  HABITAT LOSS AND POPULATION DECLINE: A META‐ANALYSIS OF THE PATCH SIZE EFFECT , 1998 .

[10]  Jack Ahern,et al.  Greenways as a planning strategy , 1995 .

[11]  D. Zakus,et al.  Golf Course Development in a Major Tourist Destination: Implications for Planning and Management , 2001, Environmental management.

[12]  Robert H. Gardner,et al.  Landscape Ecological Analysis , 1999, Springer New York.

[13]  Sharon K. Collinge,et al.  Ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation: implications for landscape architecture and planning , 1996 .

[14]  F. Steiner,et al.  Ecological Design and Planning , 1997 .

[15]  A. Hailey,et al.  Home range area in the tortoise Testudo hermanni in relation to habitat complexity: implications for conservation of biodiversity , 2001, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[16]  L. Pearlstine,et al.  Fragmentation of pine flatwood and marsh communities converted for ranching and citrus , 1997 .

[17]  M. A. Zavala,et al.  Application of ecological models to landscape planning: the case of the Mediterranean basin , 1997 .

[18]  Kevin J. Gutzwiller,et al.  Interception of moving organisms: influences of patch shape, size, and orientation on community structure , 1992, Landscape Ecology.

[19]  D. Debinski,et al.  Species diversity and the scale of the landscape mosaic : do scales of movement and patch size affect diversity , 2001 .

[20]  M. Terman.  Natural links: naturalistic golf courses as wildlife habitat , 1997 .

[21]  Peter J. Edwards,et al.  Restoration ecology and sustainable development. , 2002 .

[22]  J. Finn,et al.  Greenway planning: developing a landscape ecological network approach , 1995 .

[23]  Mark V. Lomolino.  The species-area relationship: new challenges for an old pattern , 2001 .

[24]  S. Lovejoy.  Area-Perimeter Relation for Rain and Cloud Areas , 1982, Science.

[25]  G. A. Jordan,et al.  Characterizing spatial structure of forest landscapes , 1995 .

[26]  Eric J. Gustafson,et al.  Quantifying Landscape Spatial Pattern: What Is the State of the Art? , 1998, Ecosystems.

[27]  H. N. van Lier,et al.  Landscape planning and ecological networks , 1994 .

[28]  Robert V. O'Neill,et al.  Neutral models for the analysis of broad-scale landscape pattern , 1987, Landscape Ecology.

[29]  R. O'Neill,et al.  Landscape patterns in a disturbed environment , 1987 .

[30]  Robert D. Brown,et al.  A framework for the design of wildlife conservation corridors With specific application to southwestern Ontario , 1997 .

[31]  Francisco Palomares,et al.  Vegetation structure and prey abundance requirements of the Iberian lynx: implications for the design of reserves and corridors , 2001 .

[32]  M. Fortescue.  Pattern and Process: A Whiteheadian perspective on linguistics , 2001 .

[33]  R. Forman,et al.  Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning , 1996 .

[34]  W. Laurance,et al.  Predicting the impacts of edge effects in fragmented habitats , 1991 .

[35]  R. Macarthur,et al.  The Theory of Island Biogeography , 1969 .

[36]  L. Grossi,et al.  Statistical detection of multiscale landscape patterns , 2001, Environmental and Ecological Statistics.

[37]  M. Scheffer,et al.  Estimating habitat isolation in landscape planning , 1992 .

[38]  R. Swihart,et al.  LANDSCAPE-LEVEL CORRELATES OF SMALL-MAMMAL ASSEMBLAGES IN FOREST FRAGMENTS OF FARMLAND , 2000 .

[39]  Conceptual integration of landscape planning and landscape ecology: with a focus on the Netherlands. , 1994 .

[40]  Santiago Saura,et al.  Landscape patterns simulation with a modified random clusters method , 2000, Landscape Ecology.

[41]  Jack Ahern,et al.  Spatial Concepts, Planning Strategies, and Future Scenarios: A Framework Method for Integrating Landscape Ecology and Landscape Planning , 1999 .

[42]  D. Lindenmayer,et al.  HABITAT FRAGMENTATION, LANDSCAPE CONTEXT, AND MAMMALIAN ASSEMBLAGES IN SOUTHEASTERN AUSTRALIA , 2000 .

[43]  R. Levins.  Some Demographic and Genetic Consequences of Environmental Heterogeneity for Biological Control , 1969 .

[44]  P. Rundel.  Landscape Disturbance in Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems: An Overview , 1998 .

[45]  R. O'Neill,et al.  Landscape Ecology Explained@@@Landscape Ecology in Theory and Practice: Pattern and Process , 2001 .

[46]  Bruce T. Milne,et al.  The utility of fractal geometry in landscape design , 1991 .

[47]  T. Spies,et al.  Measuring forest landscape patterns in the cascade range of Oregon, USA , 1991 .

[48]  D. Vallan.  Influence of forest fragmentation on amphibian diversity in the nature reserve of Ambohitantely, highland Madagascar , 2000 .

[49]  Stuart L. Pimm,et al.  Planning for Biodiversity , 1998, Science.

[50]  P. Opdam,et al.  Effects of patch size, isolation and regional abundance on forest bird communities , 1987, Landscape Ecology.

[51]  Stephen F. Matter,et al.  LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY OF MAMMALS: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DENSITY AND PATCH SIZE , 1997 .

[52]  Philip W. Rundel,et al.  Landscape Disturbance and Biodiversity in Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems , 1998 .

[53]  William L. Baker,et al.  The landscape ecology of large disturbances in the design and management of nature reserves , 1992, Landscape Ecology.

[54]  Jack Ahern,et al.  Planning for an extensive open space system: linking landscape structure and function , 1991 .