Handbook of Ecological Restoration: The ecological context: a landscape perspective

INTRODUCTION Restoration ecology has developed from, and has been practised primarily on, a site-based approach. The restoration of a well-defined area such as a minesite, wetland or a degraded ecosystem of some description is generally attempted. However, it is clear that relatively large areas of the earth are in need of some form of restoration, following degradation through overuse or inappropriate management, which has impaired the functioning or altered the structure of the landscape as a whole (MacMahon, 1998). Thus, there is a need to expand the scope of restoration ecology to embrace broader scales and tackle landscape-scale problems. While this is increasingly recognised, the science of landscape-scale restoration is still in a formative phase (Bell et al ., 1997). In this chapter I present a summary of landscape structure and function, discuss the impacts of human modification of landscapes, and present a series of options for developing guidelines for landscape restoration. Some of the material in this chapter is modified from work presented elsewhere (Hobbs, 1995, 1999; Hobbs & Harris, 2001; Hobbs & Lambeck, in press). LANDSCAPES: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION A landscape is defined as an area of land, at the scale of hectares to square kilometres, which consists of a collection of different, but interacting patches (also called landscape elements). Patchiness focuses on the spatial matrix of ecological processes, and emphasises the fluxes of materials and organisms within and between parts of the landscape.

[1]  Monica G. Turner,et al.  Landscape Heterogeneity and Disturbance , 2011, Ecological Studies.

[2]  Tim Flannery,et al.  The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People , 2002 .

[3]  Richard J. Hobbs,et al.  Restoration Ecology: Repairing the Earth's Ecosystems in the New Millennium , 2001 .

[4]  Richard J. Hobbs,et al.  A Framework for Conceptualizing Human Effects on Landscapes and Its Relevance to Management and Research Models , 1999 .

[5]  Steven Gerald Whisenant,et al.  Repairing Damaged Wildlands – a Process Orientated, Landscape-Scale Approach , 1999, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[6]  B. Middleton.  Wetland Restoration, Flood Pulsing, and Disturbance Dynamics , 1999 .

[7]  A. McMichael,et al.  Assessing ecosystem health. , 1998, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[8]  J. Bissonette,et al.  The behavior of landscape metrics commonly used in the study of habitat fragmentation , 1998, Landscape Ecology.

[9]  S. Bell,et al.  Linking Restoration and Landscape Ecology , 1997 .

[10]  William F. Laurance,et al.  Biomass Collapse in Amazonian Forest Fragments , 1997 .

[11]  W. Boecklen.  Nestedness, biogeographic theory, and the design of nature reserves , 1997, Oecologia.

[12]  R. Lambeck,et al.  Focal Species: a Multi-species Umbrella for Nature Conservation Focal Species for Nature Conservation Lambeck , 2022 .

[13]  M. Schwartz.  Conservation in Highly Fragmented Landscapes , 1997 .

[14]  P. Poschlod,et al.  Seed banks and seed dispersal: Important topics in restoration ecology , 1996 .

[15]  James Aronson,et al.  Vital landscape attributes: missing tools for restoration ecology , 1996 .

[16]  J. A. Ludwig,et al.  Rehabilitation of Semiarid Landscapes in Australia. I. Restoring Productive Soil Patches , 1996 .

[17]  James Aronson,et al.  Hierarchies and Landscape History: Dialoguing with Hobbs and Norton , 1996 .

[18]  D. Tongway,et al.  Landscape Ecology, Function and Management: Principles from Australia's Rangelands , 1996 .

[19]  P. Poschlod,et al.  Experimental studies on the dispersal of plants and animals on sheep in calcareous grasslands , 1996 .

[20]  Richard J. Hobbs,et al.  Towards a Conceptual Framework for Restoration Ecology , 1996 .

[21]  T. O. Crist,et al.  Critical Thresholds in Species' Responses to Landscape Structure , 1995 .

[22]  E. Appleton.  A cross-media approach to saving the chesapeake bay. , 1995, Environmental science & technology.

[23]  C. J. Hill,et al.  Linear Strips of Rain Forest Vegetation as Potential Dispersal Corridors for Rain Forest Insects , 1995 .

[24]  E. Flaig,et al.  Fate of phosphorus in the Lake Okeechobee watershed, Florida, USA: overview and recommendations , 1995 .

[25]  M. Hornung,et al.  The effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental changes on ecosystem processes at the catchment scale. , 1995, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[26]  E. Flaig,et al.  Phosphorus budget-basin relationships for Lake Okeechobee tributary basins , 1995 .

[27]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  Multiple equilibria in metapopulation dynamics , 1995, Nature.

[28]  M. L. Cadenasso,et al.  Landscape Ecology: Spatial Heterogeneity in Ecological Systems , 1995, Science.

[29]  J. Raper,et al.  Landscape ecology and GIS: edited by R Haines-Young, D R Green and S H Cousins Taylor and Francis, London, 1993, 296 pp , 1995 .

[30]  C. Murcia.  Edge effects in fragmented forests: implications for conservation. , 1995, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[31]  K. Shrader-Frechette.  Ecosystem health: a new paradigm for ecological assessment? , 1994 .

[32]  S. Milton,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Arid Rangeland Degradation , 1994 .

[33]  L. Fahrig,et al.  Connectivity is a vital element of landscape structure , 1993 .

[34]  R. O'Neill,et al.  A revised concept of landscape equilibrium: Disturbance and stability on scaled landscapes , 1993, Landscape Ecology.

[35]  M. Scheffer,et al.  Alternative equilibria in shallow lakes. , 1993, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[36]  P. Mccormick,et al.  A proposed framework for developing indicators of ecosystem health , 1993, Hydrobiologia.

[37]  R. Suffling.  Induction of vertical zones in sub-alpine valley forests by avalanche-formed fuel breaks , 1993, Landscape Ecology.

[38]  Christian Floret,et al.  Restoration and Rehabilitation of Degraded Ecosystems in Arid and Semi‐Arid Lands. I. A View from the South , 1993 .

[39]  David E. Blockstein,et al.  Landscape Linkages and Biodiversity , 1993 .

[40]  James A. Cox,et al.  Movement Corridors: Conservation Bargains or Poor Investments? , 1992 .

[41]  R. Hobbs.  The role of corridors in conservation: Solution or bandwagon? , 1992, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[42]  Samuel M. Scheiner,et al.  MEASURING PATTERN DIVERSITY , 1992 .

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

[44]  R. Hobbs,et al.  Biological Consequences of Ecosystem Fragmentation: A Review , 1991 .

[45]  V. Kapos.  Effects of isolation on the water status of forest patches in the Brazilian Amazon , 1989, Journal of Tropical Ecology.

[46]  James A. Cox,et al.  Consequences and Costs of Conservation Corridors , 1987 .

[47]  Carolyn Harrison,et al.  The Archipelago Approach to Conservation: Inspiring but Unproven@@@The Fragmented Forest: Island Biogeography Theory and the Preservation of Biotic Diversity. , 1984 .

[48]  P. Stewart,et al.  Man and the Mediterranean Forest: A History of Resource Depletion. , 1982 .

[49]  A. Bennett.  Linkages in the Landscape: The Role Of Corridors And Connectivity In Wildlife Conservation , 1999 .

[50]  James A. MacMahon,et al.  Empirical and Theoretical Ecology as a Basis for Restoration: An Ecological Success Story , 1998 .

[51]  R. Ostfeld,et al.  Defining the Scientific Issues , 1997 .

[52]  John A. Wiens,et al.  Metapopulation dynamics and landscape ecology , 1997 .

[53]  Ilkka Hanski,et al.  The Metapopulation Approach, Its History, Conceptual Domain, and Application to Conservation , 1997 .

[54]  P. Poschlod,et al.  Dispersal of Plants in Fragmented Landscapes , 1996 .

[55]  K. Mallé.  Cleaning Up the River Rhine , 1996 .

[56]  M. Wassen,et al.  Hydrological systems beyond a nature reserve, the major problem in wetland conservation of Naardermeer (The Netherlands) , 1995 .

[57]  R. Forman.  Land Mosaics: The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions , 1995 .

[58]  Monica G. Turner,et al.  Ecological Dynamics at Broad ScalesEcosystems and landscapes , 1995 .

[59]  Richard J. Hobbs,et al.  Dynamics of vegetation mosaics: Can we predict responses to global change? , 1994 .

[60]  Mark V. Lomolino.  An evaluation of alternative strategies for building networks of nature reserves , 1994 .

[61]  Richard J. Hobbs,et al.  Can revegetation assist in the conservation of biodiversity in agricultural areas , 1994 .

[62]  R. J. Hobbs,et al.  Landscape heterogeneity indices: problems of scale and applicability, with particular reference to animal habitat description , 1994 .

[63]  R. Hobbs,et al.  The Kellerberrin project on fragmented landscapes: A review of current information , 1993 .

[64]  Richard J. Hobbs,et al.  INTEGRATED LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY: A WESTERN AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE , 1993 .

[65]  Richard J. Hobbs,et al.  Reintegrating Fragmented Landscapes , 1993, Springer New York.

[66]  Glenn R. Matlack,et al.  MICROENVIRONMENT VARIATION WITHIN AND AMONG FOREST EDGE SITES IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES , 1993 .

[67]  Richard J. Hobbs,et al.  Effects of landscape fragmentation on ecosystem processes in the Western Australian wheatbelt , 1993 .

[68]  Robert Costanza,et al.  Ecosystem Health New Goals for Environmental Management , 1992 .

[69]  P. Risser,et al.  The Role of Landscape Boundaries in the Management and Restoration of Changing Environments: Introduction , 1991 .

[70]  D. Sprugel,et al.  Disturbance, equilibrium, and environmental variability: What is ‘Natural’ vegetation in a changing environment? , 1991 .

[71]  R. Gardner,et al.  Quantitative Methods in Landscape Ecology , 1991 .

[72]  M. Turner,et al.  LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY : The Effect of Pattern on Process 1 , 2002 .

[73]  D. H. Knight.  Parasites, Lightning, and the Vegetation Mosaic in Wilderness Landscapes , 1987 .

[74]  T. Rowell.  The history of drainage at wicken fen, Cambridgeshire, England, and its relevance to conservation , 1986 .

[75]  E. Willis.  CONSERVATION, SUBDIVISION OF RESERVES, AND THE ANTI-DISMEMBERMENT HYPOTHESIS , 1984 .

[76]  Steward T. A. Pickett,et al.  Patch dynamics and the design of nature reserves , 1978 .