An Introduction to Landscape Ecology

Landscape ecology provides the scientific basis for the study and management of landscapes, as well as the ecological systems they contain. More generally, landscape ecology investigates the reciprocal interactions between spatial patterns (environmental heterogeneity) and ecological processes across a wide range of scales. This introductory chapter discusses the rise of landscape ecology as a discipline, its regional perspectives, core concepts, and research themes, and provides an overview of the textbook itself. Among its core concepts, landscape ecology asserts that heterogeneity is a defining characteristic of landscapes; that landscapes can be defined and studied at any scale; and that landscapes occur within aquatic and marine systems, as well as terrestrial ones. As such, landscape ecology can benefit the study and management of any ecological system, from populations to ecosystems, through its explicit consideration of how heterogeneity, scale, spatial context, and disturbance dynamics influence critical ecological processes.