Paul Opdam

Landscape services as a bridge between landscape ecology and sustainable development

Landscape ecology is in a position to become the scientific basis for sustainable landscape development. When spatial planning policy is decentralised, local actors need to collaborate to decide on the changes that have to be made in the landscape to better accommodate their perceptions of value. This paper addresses two prerequisites that landscape ecological science has to meet for it to be effective in producing appropriate knowledge for such bottom-up landscape-development processes—it must include a valuation component, and it must be suitable for use in collaborative decision-making on a local scale. We argue that landscape ecological research needs to focus more on these issues and propose the concept of landscape services as a unifying common ground where scientists from various disciplines are encouraged to cooperate in producing a common knowledge base that can be integrated into multifunctional, actor-led landscape development. We elaborate this concept into a knowledge framework, the structure–function–value chain, and expand the current pattern–process paradigm in landscape ecology with value in this way. Subsequently, we analyse how the framework could be applied and facilitate interdisciplinary research that is applicable in transdisciplinary landscape-development processes.

Metapopulation theory and habitat fragmentation: a review of holarctic breeding bird studies

Metapopulations are conceived as spatially structured populations consisting of distinct units (subpopulations), separated by space or barriers, and connected by dispersal movements. Metapopulations characteristically demonstrate a turnover of local populations going extinct and becoming re-established, resulting in a distribution pattern that shifts over time. Metapopulation theory is used to analyse the effects of habitat fragmentation on birds in the temperate zone, integrating various explanations for the paucity of species in isolated ecotopes.There is some evidence that turnover of local populations occurs in fragmented systems. A few studies based on time series demonstrate the local extinction rate to be related to the size of the habitat fragment, whereas the recolonization rate depends on the degree of isolation. Most evidence comes from short-term pattern studies in which the probability of occurrence was found to depend on the size of habitat fragments, on their relative position in the landscape and on the density of corridors lowering the landscape resistance. These data are consistent with predictions from metapopulation theory. However, almost all investigations consider wood fragmentation in agricultural landscapes, and there is a great need for studies in naturally fragmented landscapes as well as for studies focussing on other, less predictable, habitat types.

Design in science: extending the landscape ecology paradigm

Landscape ecological science has produced knowledge about the relationship between landscape pattern and landscape processes, but it has been less effective in transferring this knowledge to society. We argue that design is a common ground for scientists and practitioners to bring scientific knowledge into decision making about landscape change, and we therefore propose that the pattern–process paradigm should be extended to include a third part: design. In this context, we define design as any intentional change of landscape pattern for the purpose of sustainably providing ecosystem services while recognizably meeting societal needs and respecting societal values. We see both the activity of design and the resulting design pattern as opportunities for science: as a research method and as topic of research. To place design within landscape ecology science, we develop an analytic framework based on the concept of knowledge innovation, and we apply the framework to two cases in which design has been used as part of science. In these cases, design elicited innovation in society and in science: the design concept was incorporated in societal action to improve landscape function, and it also initiated scientific questions about pattern–process relations. We conclude that landscape design created collaboratively by scientists and practitioners in many disciplines improves the impact of landscape science in society and enhances the saliency and legitimacy of landscape ecological scientific knowledge.

European Nuthatch Metapopulations in a Fragmented Agricultural Landscape

The European nuthatch Sitta europaea, which inhabits mature deciduous and mixed forest, has a fragmented distribution in the agricultural landscapes of Western Europe. Nuthatches have a high site fidelity, which makes them potentially sensitive to fragmentation. In earlier studies patch area and isolation were found to be related to nuthatch distribution pattern. In this paper, three times series of occurrence data are analysed to assess the effects of patch size (carrying capacity), habitat quality and isolation on the processes of local extinction and colonization.The results are interpreted in terms of a modified Levins metapopulation model, with patches of unequal size and habitat quality and effects of inter-patch distance and configuration.A method is presented to estimate the parameters of this model

Landscape cohesion: an index for the conservation potential of landscapes for biodiversity

In urbanising landscapes, planning for sustainable biodiversity occurs in a context of multifunctional land use. Important conditions for species persistence are habitat quality, the amount and configuration of habitat and the permeability of the landscape matrix. For planning purposes, these determinants should be integrated into simple indicators for spatial conditions of persistence probability. We propose a framework of three related indices. The cohesion index is based on the ecology of metapopulations in a habitat network. We discuss how an indicator for species persistence in such a network could be developed. To translate this network index into an area index, we propose the concept of spatial cohesion. Habitat cohesion and spatial cohesion are defined and measured for single species or, at best, for species profiles. Since species differ in their perception of the same landscape, different species will rate different values of these indices for the same landscape. Because landscapes are rarely planned for single species, we further propose the index of landscape cohesion, which integrates the spatial cohesion indices of different species. Indices based on these concepts can be built into GIS tools for landscape assessment. We illustrate different applications of these indices, and emphasise the distinction between ecological and political decisions in developing and applying such tools.

Landscape ecology of a stressed environment

The Netherlands landscape is an example of environments managed for high rates of production and other human uses. The data and emerging principles of landscape ecology as developed in this volume apply to a variety of other managed landscapes worldwide.

Introducing the key patch approach for habitat networks with persistent populations: an example for marshland birds

In landscapes where natural habitat is highly fragmented, any method for assessment of population persistence or potential for biodiversity should be based upon metapopulation theory, taking into account the spatial and temporal dynamics of species. We argue that methods based upon species distribution data, population viability analyses (PVA), or landscape indices alone all have severe flaws. We introduce an approach based upon a combination of the three methods, in which ecologically scaled landscape indices (ESLI) are compared to spatial standards derived from both analysis of distribution data and PVA-type simulations. We derive spatial standards, introducing the key patch approach. Key patches are large patches with a stabilizing role in habitat networks. Key patch standards were developed using spatial analysis of presence–absence data and calibrated metapopulation models for marshland bird species. We show examples of the application of this approach in land use management at both regional and national planning scales.

Population responses to landscape fragmentation

Fragmentation of habitat can be defined as a process: the destruction of habitat leaving the remaining fragments scattered throughout the newly created landscape. For species restricted to the original type of habitat, fragmentation means a disintegration into small, spatially disjunct patches, separated by land which is unsuitable to reproduce or find food or shelter. Fragmentation may also be perceived as a pattern, the result of this process of disintegration. It may then be described functionally as a spatially distributed set of habitat patches, characterized by patch area and shape, by patch configuration and by the resistance of the intermediate land to movements of individuals of a particular species. Obviously the perception of this pattern, and hence the response to the fragmentation process of a population, will vary widely among species.

Science for action at the local landscape scale

For landscape ecology to produce knowledge relevant to society, it must include considerations of human culture and behavior, extending beyond the natural sciences to synthesize with many other disciplines. Furthermore, it needs to be able to support landscape change processes which increasingly take the shape of deliberative and collaborative decision making by local stakeholder groups. Landscape ecology as described by Wu (Landscape Ecol 28:1–11, 2013) therefore needs three additional topics of investigation: (1) the local landscape as a boundary object that builds communication among disciplines and between science and local communities, (2) iterative and collaborative methods for generating transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable change, and (3) the effect of scientific knowledge and tools on local landscape policy and landscape change. Collectively, these topics could empower landscape ecology to be a science for action at the local scale.

Integrating ecosystem services in landscape planning: requirements, approaches and impacts

Abstract Despite growing knowledge of ecosystem services (ES), and heightened awareness of their political and socio-economic relevance, mainstreaming and implementing ES in landscape planning and decision-making are still in their infancy. The objective of this special issue, therefore, is to explore requirements for, approaches to, and potential impacts of, integrating ES in landscape planning and management. The issue includes three key research themes: (i) Requirements and interests of planners and decision-makers for integrating ES in different application contexts, (ii) Approaches to applying ES in (participatory) planning, and (iii) Potential impacts of integrating ES in policy and decision-making. These themes are addressed by 12 papers that refer to case studies in Africa, Australia, and Europe. Four lessons are highlighted: (i) Information on ES is considered useful by many practitioners, but the type, production and communication of ES information need to be adapted to the specific context of a planning case; (ii) A broad range of approaches are available for integrating the ES concept in (participatory) planning with different and complementary contributions to decision-support; (iii) Effectively integrating ES in planning requires careful scoping of the context, objectives and capacities; (iv) Integrating ES in planning can effectively support the co-production of relevant knowledge and the collaboration of diverse actors. A new research field of ‘Planning-for-ES Science’ is emerging which focuses on, among other issues, the critical evaluation of real-world case studies of applying the ES concept in different fields of practice.