Redefining Landscape Structure for Ecosystem Services

Abstract

Our understanding of the effects of landscape structure on ecosystem services (ES) remains at a very early stage, despite a large body of literature on the effects of the composition and configuration of natural land cover on some ES. Here, I argue that a comprehensive understanding of the effects of landscape structure on ES requires us to reconsider what constitutes landscape structure for ES. Such reconsideration requires us to re-visit John Wiens' idea that for biodiversity, a landscape and its structure are organism-and question-dependent and apply this idea to ES by redefining landscape structure for ES to include not only land cover, but also other social and biophysical drivers of ES. The underlying reason for this is that ES are products of coupled socio-ecological systems and therefore do not only depend on ecological processes and/or distributions of key species, but also on social and biophysical variables. As a result, for many ES, relevant landscape structure will not only include features traditionally considered by ecologists, such as natural land cover, but also the amount and configuration of social variables, such as land management systems and distributions of wealth and human populations. Obtaining a general understanding of how landscape structure affects ES is vital if we are to manage landscapes effectively to ensure sustainable supplies of ES now and into the future.

Bright spots in agricultural landscapes: Identifying areas exceeding expectations for multifunctionality and biodiversity

“…As such, multiscale research is the ideal. Opportunities presented by multiscalar research may include determining drivers or commonalities that are present at multiple scales, or identifying bright spots at a finer scale within dark or average locations thus allowing the prioritization of actions at the appropriate scale. Landscape structure —Landscape structure is known to affect the production and delivery of ecosystem services (Eigenbrod, ). And while we are beginning to understand the effects of landscape structure on ecosystem services (Mitchell et al., ), more research is critically needed.…”

“…Landscape structure-Landscape structure is known to affect the production and delivery of ecosystem services (Eigenbrod, 2016). And while we are beginning to understand the effects of landscape structure on ecosystem services (Mitchell et al, 2015), more research is critically needed.…”

Contemporary Landscape Structure within Monumental Zone-1 at Bagan Cultural Heritage Site, Myanmar

“…Landscape, at a given spatial scale, fundamentally represents a heterogeneous composition of biophysical, social, and cultural objects developed by natural means and/or human interventions on the earth's surface [1,2]. These objects in a landscape scale can be seen as various landforms, vegetation patches, water bodies, settlement areas, roads, etc., and are referred to as land covers or features [3,4].…”

“…These objects in a landscape scale can be seen as various landforms, vegetation patches, water bodies, settlement areas, roads, etc., and are referred to as land covers or features [3,4]. The features in spatial configuration make up the landscape structure [1,5], giving an identity to the landscape that can possess a distinctive appearance, in contrast to the surroundings [6]. Nevertheless, the natural pressure, including storm, flood, fire, earthquake, and/or anthropogenic land use and management, are all drivers that modify the landscape and make it unstable [6,7].…”

The effects of urbanization on ecosystem services for biodiversity conservation in southernmost Yunnan Province, Southwest China

“…The effect of urban landscape changes on biodiversity and ES has scale effects and regional characteristics (Eigenbrod 2016;Kindu et al, 2016). Also, landscape changes have significant impacts on biodiversity, such as natural habitat loss and natural habitat fragmentation.…”