Treesearch

Spatial information systems (SIS) is a term that describes a wide diversity of concepts, techniques, and technologies related to the capture, management, display and analysis of spatial information. It encompasses technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), remote sensing, and relational database management systems (RDBMS), which were once relatively independent but increasingly have been merging into cohesive, integrated systems.

Habitat loss and fragmentation are widely believed to be the most important drivers of extinction (Leakey and Lewin 1995). The habitats in which organisms live are spatially structured at a number of scales, and these patterns interact with organism perception and behavior to drive population dynamics and community structure (Johnson et al. 1992). Anthropogenic habitat loss and fragmentation disrupts these patterns and is expected to have large, negative effects on biodiversity (Flather and Bevers 2002; Haila 2002; Fahrig 2003). The majority of theoretical studies suggest that the effect...

One of Africa's greatest conservation successes is the recovery of elephant (Loxodonta africana) populations within protected areas (e.g. Aleper and Moe 2006), such as those in northern Botswana. This recovery poses several challenges, however. First, habitat within protected areas is becoming degraded from high intensity elephant browsing. Second, the increasing elephant and human populations in the region have led to large increases in human­elephant conflict along the periphery of protected areas (Sitati et al. 2005; Lee and Graham 2006). Management options include facilitating natural...

In the previous chapter we presented the idea of a multi-layer, multi-scale, spatially referenced data-cube as the foundation for monitoring and for implementing flexible modeling of ecological pattern-process relationships in particulate, in context and to integrate these across large spatial extents at the grain of the strongest linkage between response and driving variables. This approach is powerful for developing information about the conditions of multiple ecological attributes continuously across the analysis area. However, there are a number of ecological questions that involve...

In the first chapter of this book we identified the interdependence of method, data and theory as an important influence on the progress of science. The first several chapters focused mostly on progress in theory, in the areas of integrating spatial and temporal complexity into ecological analysis, the emergence of landscape ecology and its transformation into a multi-scale gradient-based science. These chapters weaved in some discussion about the interrelationships between method and these theoretical approaches. In particular, we discussed how powerful computing, large spatial databases...

Landscape ecology deals fundamentally with how, when, and why patterns of environmental factors influence the distribution of organisms and ecological processes, and reciprocally, how the actions of organisms and ecological processes influence ecological patterns (Urban et al. 1991; Turner 1989). The landscape ecologist's goal is to determine where and when spatial and temporal heterogeneity matter, and how they influence processes. A fundamental issue in this effort revolves around the choices a researcher makes about how to depict and measure heterogeneity (Turner 1989; Wiens 1989)....

In the preceding chapters we discussed the central role that spatial and temporal variability play in ecological systems, the importance of addressing these explicitly within ecological analyses and the resulting need to carefully consider spatial and temporal scale and scaling. Landscape ecology is the science of linking patterns and processes across scale in both space and time. Thus landscape ecology is, in a real sense, the foundational science for addressing the central issues of sensitive dependence of ecological process on spatial and temporal variability. This chapter reviews the...

In the previous chapter we reviewed the challenges posed by spatial complexity and temporal disequilibrium to efforts to understand and predict the structure and dynamics of ecological systems. The central theme was that spatial variability in the environment and population processes fundamentally alters the interactions between species and their environments, largely invalidating the predictions of ideal models of community structure and population processes. In addition, we argued that temporal variability enormously amplifies the challenge of prediction, by altering and reversing...

Over the past decade the number of statistical modelling tools available to ecologists to model species' distributions has increased at a rapid pace (e.g. Elith et al. 2006; Austin 2007), as have the number of species distribution models (SDM) published in the literature (e.g. Scott et al. 2002). Ten years ago, basic logistic regression (Hosmer and Lemeshow 2000) was the most common analytical tool (Guisan and Zimmermann 2000), whereas ecologists today have at their disposal a much more diverse range of analytical approaches. Much of this is due to the increasing availability of software...

Established plants of fernleaf biscuitroot, like other members of the Lomatium genus, begins growth very early in the spring, often just following snow melt, providing crucial early forage for many wildlife and domestic animals. It is considered a very valuable forage species due to its large stature and high biomass production levels. Ogle and Brazee (2009) rate members of the genus as desirable spring and summer forage for cattle, sheep, horses, elk, deer and antelope.