Landscape Effects on Ecosystem Structure and Function

Abstract

Landscape ecosystem ecology is concerned with the study of how landscape structure affects ecosystem structure and function, and how landscape heterogeneity in turn is generated or sustained by the redistribution of nutrients or organisms within and among ecosystems. This chapter begins with an overview of how landscape context influences ecosystem processes, including the effects of land management and land-cover change on nutrient dynamics and productivity. Next, the chapter considers the linkages among systems (metaecosystems) and how spatial subsidies are important for understanding ecosystem function in a landscape context. The chapter then explores under what conditions landscape function becomes disrupted, possibly precipitating irreversible system state changes, before concluding with a clarion call for landscape sustainability; that is, landscape management that preserves the productivity, multifunctionality, and ecological resilience of landscapes in the face of future societal demands, intensifying land use, and rapid climate change.