Springer Landscape Ecology: A Widening Foundation

The urgent need for a sustainable environment has resulted in the increased recognition of the field of landscape ecology amongst policy makers working in the area of nature conservation, restoration and territorial planning. Nonetheless, the question of what is precisely meant by the term landscape ecology'is still unresolved. No doubt, a proper foundation of the discipline must first be cemented. This book develops such a foundation. In doing so it provides all the diverse applications of the discipline with a solid framework and proposes an effective diagnostic methodology to investigate the ecological state and the pathologies of the landscape. Review From the reviews: "In this excellent synthesis of the diverse European and North American views on landscape ecology, Ingegnoli (Univ. of Milan), a leading Italian scientist in the rapidly emerging field of landscape methodology and assessment, has brought together an amazing amount of information on complex landscape ecology theories, concepts, and indexes. … Well written; numerous illustrations; excellent glossary. Summing Up: Highly recommended." (M. J. Zwolinski, Choice, March, 2003) "The author describes the book as providing, ‘a wide range of theories, of simple useful equations and of tested methods for the analysis and diagnosis of the ecological state of a landscape, including several case studies’. This is indeed the case; the text is interesting, up-to-date, thought-provoking and fairly comprehensive. … The book excels in describing the application of landscape ecological methods in areas such as sustainability, conservation biology and planning and the case studies would be useful to any teacher of the subject." (Gary Campbell, Progress in Physical Geography, Vol. 27 (3), 2003) "It provides a wide range of theories, of simple useful equations and of tested methods for the analysis and diagnosis of the ecological state of a landscape, including several case studies. Further, the diverse European and North American approaches and perspectives have coalesced for the first time. … This book is written for a broad audience: students of biology and natural sciences, agronomy and forestry, environmental engineering, territorial planning and landscape architecture, as well as for professionals and managers of the environment." (Ethology, Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 14 (3), 2002) From the Back Cover A general agreement of what is meant by the subject landscape ecology is still lacking. Therefore, it is necessary to reach a manifold but unique definition of landscape, to recognise what is important about landscapes and to arrive at a disciplinary model capable of utilising and integrating the existing different points of view on landscape ecology. If that is done, then all the applications related to the land can be set in a correct framework using a consequent effective methodology. This is the aim of this book. It provides a wide range of theories, of simple useful equations and of tested methods for the analysis and diagnosis of the ecological state of a landscape, including several case studies. Further, the diverse European and North American approaches and perspectives have coalesced for the first time. And, it proposes a new approach to understand landscape pathology and degradation. This book is written for a broad audience: students of biology and natural sciences, agronomy and forestry, environmental engineering, territorial planning and landscape architecture, as well as for professionals and managers of the environment. It is hoped that it will also aid in the training of new professionals such as environmental physicians too, because the challenge of sustainability is a continuous one.