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Applied Landscape Ecology (Angewandte Landschaftsökologie)
Angewandte Landschaftsökologie
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 14:56:48
Objective
The aims of this course are: (1) to demonstrate to students the relevance of the landscape ecology perspective for science and management; (2) to demonstrate the existence and utility of methods commonly employed by landscape ecologists for solving relevant applied problems; and (3) to explain the theory, mathematics, and conceptual framework underlying these tools just well enough so that students, who someday may want to employ them in their own research, would have a good foundation to start from.
Content
Course Schedule Weeks 1 - 2: Introduction to Landscape Ecology: What is it and why is it important? Theoretical basis, and key concepts. Weeks 3 - 7: Landscape Pattern, Measurement of Pattern, and Ecological Implications Week 6: Lab 1. Landscape Mosaics, Metrics, and Species Persistence: Use of FRAGSTATS metrics to evaluate forest fragmentation and habitat connectivity; a simple spreadsheet population model for assessing the probability of species persistence Week 8: No Class Weeks 9 - 12: Landscape Dynamics and Modelling Week 11: Lab 2. Landscape models of vegetation dynamics: Fire effects on the landscape age-class distribution. Weeks 13 - 14: Applications to Conservation, Natural Resource Management, and Land Use Planning Week Topics Required Reading (note: students are expected to read at least 6 of the 12 papers listed) 1. April 4 1. Course Introduction 2. Introduction to Landscape Ecology: What is it and why is it important? None 2. April 11 An Introduction to Landscape Ecology (continued): Concepts, Issues, and Applications Turner 1989 3. April 18 Landscape Pattern: 1. Quantifying Landscape Pattern: What is the State of the Art? An overview. 2. Landscape Metrics Gustafson 1998 4. April 25 Quantifying Landscape Patterns Using Metrics to Quantify Effects of Anthropogenic Disturbances Ecological Implications of Landscape Pattern: The Ecological Effects of Habitat Fragmentation Mladenoff et al. 1993 5. May 2 Quantifying Spatial Pattern using Geostatistics (in-class demo of kriging and trend surface analysis using S-Plus software) Fortin 1999 6. May 9 LABORATORY 1. Landscape Mosaics, Metrics, and Species Persistence: Use of FRAGSTATS metrics to evaluate forest fragmentation and habitat connectivity; a simple spreadsheet population model for assessing the probability of species persistence McGarigal and Marks 1995 (Selected pages) 7. May 16 Landscape Dynamics: Reconstructing the History of Disturbance and Past Vegetation Dynamics Effects of Disturbance Processes on Landscape Pattern Foster and Boose 1992 8. May 23 NO CLASS 9. May 30 Landscape Dynamics: 1. Disturbance, Patch Dynamics, and Concepts of Landscape Equilibria 2. Creating Landscape Patterns by Forest Cutting: What are the Ecological Implications? Franklin and Forman 1987 10. June 6 Modeling Dynamic Landscapes: 1. Simulating Forest Disturbance Processes at the Landsca
Resources
Lecture Notes
No existing textbook that we are aware of adequately meets the needs of this course. Lecture material is drawn from journal articles, book chapters, and occasionally from software manuals. Students are expected to read at least 5 scientific papers, out of 12 scientific papers assigned, over the 13 weeks of instruction. Students may select for themselves which 5 of the 12 to read, depending on their own interests. In addition, lecture notes passed out for each lecture topic include additional, optional readings for those who are especially motivated.
Literature
Readings No existing textbook that we are aware of adequately meets the needs of this course. Lecture material will be drawn from journal articles, book chapters, and occasionally from software manuals. Students will be expected to read at least 6 scientific papers, out of 12 scientific papers assigned, over the 13 weeks of instruction. Students may select for themselves which 6 of the 12 to read, depending on their own interests. In addition, lecture notes passed out for each lecture topic will include additional, optional readings for those who are especially motivated. The 12 readings for the course are: - Boychuk, Dennis, and Perera, Ajith H. 1997. Modeling temporal variability of boreal landscape age-classes under different fire disturbance regimes and spatial scales. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 27: 1083-1094. - Cissel, John H., Swanson, Frederick J., and Weisberg, Peter J. 1999. Landscape management using historical fire regimes: Blue River, Oregon. Ecological Applications 9: 1217-1231. - Fahrig, Lenore, and Merriam, Gray. 1994. Conservation of fragmented populations. Conservation Biology 8: 50-59. - Fortin, Marie-Josee. 1999. Spatial statistics in landscape ecology. pp. 253-279 in Landscape Ecological Analysis: Issues and Applications. Klopatek, J.M. and Gardner, R.H. (eds.), New York: Springer-Verlag. - Foster, D. R., and Boose, E. R. 1992. Patterns of forest damage resulting from catastrophic wind in central New England, USA. Journal of Ecology 80: 79-98. - Franklin, Jerry F. and Richard T.T. Formann. 1987. Creating landscape patterns by forest cutting: Ecological consequences and principles. Landscape Ecology 1: 5-18. - Gustafson, E. J. 1998. Quantifying landscape spatial pattern: what is the state of the art? Ecosystems 1, 143_156. - He, Hong S., and Mladenoff, David J. 1999. Spatially explicit and stochastic simulation of forest landscape fire disturbance and succession. Ecology 80: 81-99. - Mladenoff, D. J., White, M. A., Pastor, J., and Crow, T. R. 1993. Comparing spatial pattern in unaltered old-growth and disturbed forest landscapes. Ecological Applications 3(2): 294-306. - Sprugel, Douglas G. 1991. Disturbance, equilibrium, and environmental variability: what is 'natural' vegetation in a changing environment? Biological Conservation 58: 1-18 - Turner, Monica G. 1989. Landscape Ecology: The effect of pattern on process. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 20: 171-197.
General Information
- Language
- German
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- session examination
- Mode
- oral 30 minutes
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise | Angewandte Landschaftsökologie |
|
2 h weekly |