Multispecies approaches to questions in ecology and evolution are at the forefront of many fields spanning both theoretical and applied research. In conservation and landscape genetics, simulation ...models offer a powerful means to evaluate complex questions, yet most models lack the ability to consider landscape effects on multiple species or to simulate the complex interactions that occur among species and drive eco‐evolutionary processes. Tools are needed that provide a mechanistic framework to explore multiple and simultaneous interspecific interactions and their effects on demogenetic processes for each species. We present a generalized, multispecies version of Cost‐Distance Meta‐Population (CDMetaPOP) that simulates changes in neutral and selection‐driven genotypes across space and time as a function of individual‐based movement, spatial population dynamics, and multiple and dynamic landscape drivers. The number of species in a given simulation is limited only by the number of computer processors available. In addition to simulating multiple species, we use Lotka–Volterra theory to implement interspecific interactions via competition. We validate the competition model and present a real‐world example to demonstrate the potential role of species interactions in landscape connectivity and gene flow. While the example uses fish as the model species, CDMetaPOP ver. 2 is flexible enough to simulate species that span the breadth of the tree of life. The simulation framework presented here provides a novel approach to addressing questions concerning the spatial ecology, evolution, and conservation of diverse taxa, from individual species to whole communities.
How religious institutions used landscapes and architecture to express their religious and social ideologies
The Archaeology of Protestant Landscapes focuses on three religious institutions in ...the US South in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: St. Paul’s Parish Church in coastal South Carolina, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in central Alabama, and Cane Hill College in Northwest Arkansas. Drawing from archaeological surveys and excavations, artifact analysis, archival research, geophysical testing, and architectural information on religious structures, Kimberly Pyszka offers case studies of these institutions, which were located in developing communities that varied socially, politically, and economically.
Pyszka uses these case studies to demonstrate that select religious institutions used and modified natural landscape features to create cultural landscapes to express their ideology, identity, goals, and social, religious, and political power. She notes that where those structures were constructed, how they sat on the landscape, their architectural style, and their overall visual appearance were well-considered decisions made by religious leaders to benefit their organizations, communities, and, sometimes, themselves.
Pyszka also uses these case studies to highlight the social roles that religious organizations played in the development of communities. She points to landscape decisions—specifically to how the architectural design of religious structures was used, intentionally or not, to unite people, often those of differing religious backgrounds—as contributing to the creation of a common identity among people living in new and still-growing settlements, aiding in community development. This book contributes to the growing body of work within historical archaeology on churches, churchyards, and cemeteries and to the increasing awareness among archaeologists of how these sites contribute to questions of identity, consumerism, trade, and colonialism.
Landscape approaches are gaining momentum in both scientific and policy agendas. However, landscape approaches comprise a multitude of concepts, approaches and principles, which are in part similar, ...in some parts different or even contradictory. In this paper, we used a Q-method questionnaire to explore how landscape approaches are understood and employed in 45 case studies of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes derived from the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), as well as the motivations for employing them. Our analysis revealed that all landscape approaches pursued very similar goals, namely to ensure that local communities as landscape stewards have the capacity to preserve context-specific values in the face of socio-economic and environmental changes. The tools for reaching such goals are built upon people and nature feedback dynamics that crystalize in rich biodiversity and local ecological knowledge. However, our analysis also showed that the means to reach those goals differed depending on many contextual factors, such as the dominant ecosystems and socio-economic activities in the landscape, the constellation of actors or the most relevant drivers of change affecting the social–ecological system. In particular, we identified four distinct lenses in which landscapes approaches are applied in practice to landscape sustainability: (1) for the preservation of natural values, (2) for the preservation of socio-cultural values, (3) for the promotion of social justice and participatory governance, and (4) for securing food security and local livelihoods. Our results showed an association between the choice of a lens and the value types motivating the use of a landscape approach. Relational values were associated with a focus on landscape conservation and safeguard of social–ecological values. Our study highlights the relevant and beneficial role of landscape approaches as a boundary concept and emphasizes the need for transdisciplinary and participatory methods within landscape research and practice to navigate the context-specific options for implementation of landscape approaches.
1. Achieving global targets for forest restoration will require cost-effective strategies to return agricultural land to forest, while minimizing implementation costs and negative outcomes for ...agricultural production. 2. We present a landscape approach for optimizing the cost-effectiveness of largescale forest restoration. Across three different landscapes within Brazil's Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot, we modelled landscape scenarios based on spatially explicit data on the probability of natural regeneration, restoration costs, land opportunity costs, and forest restoration outcomes for increasing carbon stocking and landscape connectivity. We compare benefits of our cost-reduction approach to the legally mandated riparian restoration and randomly distributed approaches. 3. Compared with riparian prioritization and considering both implementation and opportunity costs, our cost-reduction scenario produced the greatest savings (20.9%) in mechanized agricultural landscapes. 4. When only considering implementation costs, our cost-reduction scenario led to the highest savings (38.4%) in the landscape with highest forest cover where natural regeneration potential is highest and enables cost-effective carbon stocking and connectivity. 5. Synthesis and applications. We present a guide for forest restoration planning that maximizes specific outcomes with minimal costs and reduction of agricultural production. Furthermore, we show how policies could encourage prioritization of low-cost restoration via natural regeneration, increasing cost-effectiveness. While our study focuses on Brazil's Atlantic Forest, the approach can be parameterized for other regions.
The circumstances of contemporary rural tourism have complicated the orientation and interests of stakeholders and transformed people's aesthetic judgment and negotiation on landscapes. Previous ...studies have revealed the preference variations among stakeholders' cohort individuality; however, few have illustrated how the pathway discrepancy between perception and cognition resulted in the heterogeneity of rural landscape aesthetics. In this research, a tourist village in Southwest China was selected for a case study. A method of structured photographs scale was applied to elicit aesthetic judgment by landscape preference and indicators, as approaches via perception and cognition pathway. Comparative analysis showed that pathway discrepancy can be considered an essential part of the aesthetic heterogeneity mechanism. Based on the results, the authors provide some suggestions on rural landscape governance: (1) the procedure of public participation in landscape assessment ought to take participant's place attachment, epistemology standpoint and demographic features into account to consolidate aesthetic justice; (2) measures for rural landscape improvement should shift the focus from physical landscape to livelihood, lifestyle and other non-gaze essence of rural area; (3) in order to bring aesthetic conflicts to a common ground in tourism development, landscape management should invite different stakeholders to cognize and attach more to the land.
•Tourism gives rise to stakeholders' aesthetic conflicts on rural landscape.•Perception and cognition result in different aesthetic judgements on rural landscape.•People's aesthetic choices depend on their place attachment, epistemology standpoint and demographic feature.•The heterogeneity rules of landscape aesthetics affect the result of landscape assessment.•Attachment and comprehension conciliate conflicts in rural landscape negotiation.
► Increasing urban demand for goods and services provided by peri-urban agriculture. ► Post-productive characteristics in peri-urban agriculture. ► Development potential for multifunctional ...agriculture.
Peri-urban areas around urban agglomerations in Europe and elsewhere have been subject to agricultural and land use research for the past three decades. The manner in which farming responds to urban pressures, socio-economic changes and development opportunities has been the main focus of examination, with urban demand for rural goods and services representing a driving factor to adapt farming activities in a multifunctional way. Working within the peri-urban framework, this review pays particular attention to the relevance of multifunctional agriculture. Academic discourses and empirical insights related to farm structure and practices beyond conventional agriculture are analysed. Diversification, recreational and environmental farming, landscape management and specialisation, as well as direct marketing are all taken into consideration and discussed within the context of landscape functions. The provision of rural goods and services is contrasted with societal demands on peri-urban agriculture. This review finds that multifunctional agriculture has been commonly recognised in peri-urban areas – a phenomenon that includes a large variety of activities and diversification approaches within the context of environmental, social and economic functions of agriculture. In response to the post-productive, consumption-oriented requirements of the urban society, peri-urban farmers have intensified their uptake of multifunctional activities. Nevertheless, not all multifunctional opportunities are being fully developed when one considers the large and growing urban demand for goods and services provided by agriculture carried out near the city. This paper discusses policy and planning approaches to support multifunctional agriculture in peri-urban areas.
The sustainable development of SII (small inhabited islands) has critical impacts on human well-being and requires balancing complex multiobjectives, for which the most beneficial actions must be ...prioritized, with limited financial and labor support. The effect of current plans based on single-scale or single-objective assessments may be overestimated, and multiscale landscape assessments and plans offer a potential solution. This study aimed to bring more attention to SII and use landscape ecology theories and methods to develop a multiscale landscape assessment framework that integrates multiobjectives to identify priority action plans for sustainable development. This framework consists of a LEHA (landscape ecological health assessment) based on the PSR (pressure-state-response) index system and a TLSA (tourism landscape suitability assessment) based on the AHP (analytic hierarchy process) index system at regional and unit landscape scales, respectively. And we verified it on Xiaodeng Island in Xiamen, China, near Kinmen Island in Taiwan Province, which is a typical case of SII that are in the administrative division of “township” consisting of villages only. Our framework is characterized by overall consistency, hierarchical transmission and spatial variability, which ensures the scientific and operability of plans that can meet both ‘top-down’ management objectives and ‘bottom-up’ development needs. The application in Xiaodeng Island confirmed its feasibility. We proposed 4 strategies and an action plan network of 12 actions with specific content, location and order based on the assessment results with the goal of mitigating climate change, particularly in marine ecosystems, and providing more sustainable development opportunities for SII residents. In the future, we need a long-term monitoring database, scenario modeling predictions and quantitative analysis of the plan effectiveness for SII; furthermore, we need to implement this framework at different landscape scales in other areas.
•SII (Small inhabited islands) need more attention.•We developed a multiscale landscape assessment framework using PSR and AHP methods.•Achieving a more precise spatialisation of problems and actions through multiscale.•Multi-stakeholders in SII will all benefit from our study.
作为实现“美丽中国”“美丽乡村”“建设生态文明”“乡村振兴战略”目标的关键，受自然和人类活动相互作用的影响而形成的、可以被人所感知的具有明显特征的“景观”，是综合提升人居环境形态美、功能美和文化美的重要载体和纽带，是保护魅力国土特征、重塑区域特色禀赋、提升地方文化自信的重要基础。景观立法体系的构建既有助于科学划定生态、农业、城镇等主要控制线，对农业发展、生态功能的恢复及保护、城乡融合发展具有重要意义，又有助于乡村振兴战略中生态宜居的美丽乡村建设。本文介绍了6个国家（经济体）开发的针对乡村景观资源的评估规划技术和保育治理体系，并分析了其通过立法机制推动景观资源保育工作由被动向主动转化的经验。同时，本文从建立乡村景观资源特征数据库、探索景观特征营造和立法保育技术体系、通过地方实践探索适宜我国国情的工作路径等方面提出了我国通过立法机制促进乡村景观可持续利用的建议。Landscapes,as perceived by people,are a product of either natural process or human intervention in the natural environmentthey are a fundamental element in achieving the goals of Beautiful China,Beautiful Villages,Ecological Civilization,and Rural Revitalization policies.They are also vital in improving human habitats ecologically,functionally,and culturally.Landscape protection,management,and planning are significant for maintaining spatial features,shaping regional characteristics,and enhancing cultural confidence.The enactment of a landscape legislation system is conducive to the scientific delineation of the zoning lines of ecol
Context
Despite calls for landscape connectivity research to account for spatiotemporal dynamics, studies have overwhelmingly evaluated the importance of habitats for connectivity at single or ...limited moments in time. Remote sensing time series represent a promising resource for studying connectivity within dynamic ecosystems. However, there is a critical need to assess how static and dynamic landscape connectivity modelling approaches compare for prioritising habitats for conservation within dynamic environments.
Objectives
To assess whether static landscape connectivity analyses can identify similar important areas for connectivity as analyses based on dynamic remotely sensed time series data.
Methods
We compared degree and betweenness centrality graph theory metric distributions from four static scenarios against equivalent results from a dynamic 25-year remotely sensed surface-water time series. Metrics were compared at multiple spatial aggregation scales across south-eastern Australia’s 1 million km
2
semi-arid Murray–Darling Basin and three sub-regions with varying levels of hydroclimatic variability and development.
Results
We revealed large differences between static and dynamic connectivity metric distributions that varied by static scenario, region, spatial scale and hydroclimatic conditions. Static and dynamic metrics showed particularly low overlap within unregulated and spatiotemporally variable regions, although similarities increased at coarse aggregation scales.
Conclusions
In regions that exhibit high spatiotemporal variability, static connectivity modelling approaches are unlikely to serve as effective surrogates for more data intensive approaches based on dynamic, remotely sensed data. Although this limitation may be moderated by spatially aggregating static connectivity outputs, our results highlight the value of remotely sensed time series for assessing connectivity in dynamic landscapes.
