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ENV510 Landscape Ecology and GIS
Definitions
& descriptions |
Structure & pattern |
Function
& process | Change
& dynamics | Management
implications
Structure
| Features
| Measurements
| Appearance
| Complexity
Why is it necessary
to understand structural complexity?
Patches
are made up of subunits. This means that smaller patches are found within larger
patches. Structural complexity is therefore a function of vertical and horizontal
layers of habitat and the resulting spatial complexity is pattern in the landscape
that varies in space and time.
Kienast
(1993) found that patterns affect net primary production and movement of
species in the landscape. So the spatial
arrangement of landscape elements and the relationship between these
elements (complexity between and within habitat patches) influences the distribution
and abundance of species in the landscape.
This is discussed in more detail in the section on Landscape function and process.
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