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3 - The ecological context: a landscape perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2009

By
Richard J. Hobbs
Edited by
Martin R. Perrow  and
Anthony J. Davy
Richard J. Hobbs
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
Martin R. Perrow
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Anthony J. Davy
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
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Summary

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.

Type
Chapter
Information
Handbook of Ecological Restoration , pp. 24 - 46
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

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