Learning Objectives

24.1.1 Describe the elements that make up a landscape and illustrate how they can influence ecological processes such as dispersal and ecosystem function.

24.1.2 Show how landscape structure can be evaluated using the number and areas of the elements that make up the landscape.

24.1.3 Compare the benefits and drawbacks associated with using coarse-scale versus fine-scale characterization of a landscape.

24.1.4 Describe how disturbances can affect and be affected by the landscape structure.

Landscape ecology examines how landscape patterns are influenced by ecological processes as well as how these spatial patterns influence ecological processes. Landscape ecologists are interested in the spatial arrangement of different landscape elements across Earth's surface. Examples of landscape elements include surface features such as areas covered (patches) by forest, meadows, or lakes. At smaller spatial scales, individual creosote bushes in a desert, or areas of a certain soil type, could be considered landscape elements. As we will see, the spatial pattern of landscape elements can influence what species live in an area, as well as the dynamics of ecological processes such as disturbance and dispersal of organisms.