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LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY AND FOREST MANAGEMENT: DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIP *
Author(s) -
Boutin Stan,
Hebert Daryll
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
ecological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.864
H-Index - 213
eISSN - 1939-5582
pISSN - 1051-0761
DOI - 10.1890/1051-0761(2002)012[0390:leafmd]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - ecology , landscape ecology , landscape epidemiology , geography , forest management , environmental resource management , intact forest landscape , forest ecology , habitat , fragmentation (computing) , landscape assessment , landscape planning , landscape connectivity , ecosystem management , habitat fragmentation , ecosystem , landscape design , environmental science , biology , population , sociology , biological dispersal , demography
Landscape ecologists have been eager to make their research applicable to forest management. We examine how landscape ecology has contributed to shaping the way forest management is currently practiced. Landscape ecology research in forested ecosystems can be divided into two general areas: (1) the study of fragmentation issues, which focuses on the effects of forest fragmentation on species conservation; and (2) the development of landscape projection models, which focuses on patch dynamics and the effects of spatial arrangement of patches on ecosystem processes. Fragmentation issues have become priorities in the minds of forest managers, but research to date has over‐emphasized the effects of landscape structure on species conservation. We suggest that the research focus should move toward the study of threshold effects of landscape change on the relative influence of habitat loss and habitat configuration on species conservation in forest‐dominated landscapes. Landscape projection models are rapidly becoming important tools in forest management planning, and they hold great promise as a means to bring landscape ecologists and forest managers together. The ability to produce future landscapes under different management scenarios and to compare these to landscapes produced by natural disturbance regimes will help to focus both managers and scientists on understanding the key interactions among human activities, landscape features, and ecological processes.