Landscape Ecology for Watersheds

Abstract

Landscape ecology is a transdisciplinary field that provides a useful theoretical and operational approach for watershed planning. Landscape ecology is primarily concerned with the interaction of landscape elements, in space and time, over broad geographical areas such as watersheds. The issues that landscape ecology is well suited to address include: land use change analysis, biodiversity assessment and planning, and water resource planning and management. This session will provide a brief overview of some key concepts and tools from landscape ecology, particularly landscape metrics. We will offer recommendations and review planning applications that address: (1) the challenge to integrate multiple land uses and functions in a given area (i.e., a watershed), (2) the identification of useful thresholds for monitoring and modeling landscape functions (e.g., biodiversity, water quality), (3) understanding the interactions between the visible and invisible (subsurface) components of landscapes, and (4) the basis for an adaptive approach to address uncertainty and change in landscape planning