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-Study areas in southern Ontario (a) at the regional scale, where squares indicate 10 km T 10 km plots for data on mammal presence and absence, triangles indicate weather stations for precipitation and temperature data; and the star indicates the James McLean Oliver Ecological Centre; (b) at the local scale, where circles indicate vegetation and soil plots at the James McLean Oliver Ecological Centre.
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The conventional view of the environment – consisting of discrete patches that repeat themselves across the landscape – has seldom been tested. Across a wide spatial scope in southern Ontario, Canada, we investigated the spatial structure of physical and biological features of the environment: vegetation communities, moisture, pH, and organic conte...
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... tested these contrasting views of environmental organisation by quantifying the structure of terrestrial ecosystem components across a vast spatial scope in two study areas in southern Ontario, Canada (Fig. 1). Soil properties and vegetation composition were measured at a local scale, within approximately 1 km 2 of mixedwood forest, and climatic attributes and mammalian community composition were examined at a regional scale, within approximately 150,000 km 2 across the southern breadth of the province. We adopted Bell et al.'s (1993) power ...
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... at the local scale were taken within a mixedwood forest at the James McLean Oliver Ecological Centre (44834 0 27 00 N, 78829 0 37 00 W), September 2001, near the southern boundary of the Precambrian Shield (Fig. 1). The forest, approximately 80 ha, was dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum), red maple (Acer rubrum), white ash (Fraxinus americana), ironwood (Ostryia virginiana), eastern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis), and American basswood (Tilia americana). Systematic sampling was conducted for optimal detection of spatial pattern ( Legendre ...
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... most of the forest of the study area. Each site comprised a starting plot and radiating transects in the four cardinal directions. Each transect was composed of five plots, with the exception of the north transect which was comprised of four plots, each 3.5 m radius, at 10 m intervals. The number of plots per site was 20, for a total of 282 plots (Fig. 1). Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates (accuracy <10 m) were recorded at each ...
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... approximately evenly spaced. Each site had a starting plot and radiating transects in the four cardinal directions; the north and east transects were composed of five contiguous 10 km  10 km plots, and the south and west transects were composed of four contiguous 10 km  10 km plots. The number of plots per site was 19, for a total of 76 plots ( Fig. ...
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... or absence of 26 mammal species, from 1970 through 1993, were recorded from the Atlas of Ontario Mammals (Dobbyn, 1994). Nomenclature for mammal species follows Banfield (1974). Mean annual ambient temperature and precipitation, 1961-1990(Environment Canada, 1993, were recorded from the 45 closest meteorological stations to the transects ( Fig. ...
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The contrast between ecology in cities and ecology of cities has emphasized the increasing scope of urban ecosystem research. Ecology in focuses on terrestrial and aquatic patches within cities, suburbs, and exurbs as analogs of non-urban habitats. Urban fabric outside analog patches is considered to be inhospitable matrix. Ecology of the city diff...
Citations
... The continuous spatial arrangement of land-use gradients can be utilized to understand landscape structures and potential land-use variations between urban and rural areas [20]. The application has some advantages, such as minimizing subjectivity in variability measurements concerning the spatial attributes of land-use patches and improving our ability to describe landscapes characteristics [30][31][32]. Thus, a number of quantitative models have been developed to detect urban fringes based on gradient variations of spatial attributes between urban and rural areas in terms of socio-economic, land-use, population density, and natural-terrain factors [33][34][35][36][37]. ...
Urban fringe is an active expanding belt, indicating urban-rural interaction processes. Previous studies have attempted to define urban fringe as the transitional area between urban and rural areas, but there is a lack of quantitative analysis of the periphery boundaries. We developed a novel , the Spatial Segmentation Model (SSM), to detect the extent of urban fringe via calculating the share of the built-up land. Within the urban fringe, we statistically compared the number of built-up patches in each direction and described four urban expanding patterns (stable, sprawling, leaping, and mixing patterns) indicated by the empirical analysis. The results show that this model can reliably detect the urban fringe and could reveal urban growth characteristics. We find the spatial territory changes are highly relative with transport infrastructures in Harbin. Meanwhile, the roads density in the urban core are higher than in the urban fringe. Especially for city roads, roads density in the urban core is more than 4 times higher than in the urban fringe. The growth of the urban fringe is closely related to the development of social economies as well as the space policies and development plans designed by governments. Similar to the post-industry cities worldwide, Harbin should take action to address population decline. Effective land-use and suitable urban growth strategies play an important role in alleviating urban shrinkage. Thus, understanding the dynamics, urban expanding patterns, and driving factors in the urban fringe can help us form a basis for future urban development.
... These approaches follow a conventional definition of the landscape, usually considered in landscape ecology as an arrangement of relatively homogeneous CLC patches, which are repeated across the space (Bridges et al., 2007;Forman, 1995). This model does not accurately represent the real landscape, which is not made of clearly distinct uniform patches. ...
... Gradients are formed as a result of the variability of environmental features from one site to another (Bridges et al., 2007) and the degree of the environmental changes in space determines the steepness of the gradient in the system's structure and function (McDonnell and Pickett, 1990). The increasing anthropic intensity of Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) produces by itself an anthropogenic gradient characterised by the succession in space of natural-managed-cultivated-suburban-urban landscapes (Forman and Godron, 1986). ...
High Nature Value farmland (HNVf) are characterised by high naturalness of land cover and low intensity of agricultural practices. They are essential for biodiversity conservation in rural environments, and their presence is an important indicator of the effectiveness of different EU policies that aim to support biodiversity in agricultural areas. Consequently, their identification, protection and implementation is of strategic importance. Previous studies have analysed the landscape along an urban-rural-natural gradient, beginning with Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) maps. Building up from this baseline, this paper integrates spatial analysis methods with statistical data related to agricultural practices and their intensity, with the aim of mapping and assessing HNVf in a portion of the Veneto Plain, north-east Italy. In particular, this paper presents a methodology for the identification of HNVf applied to two datasets: (i) the first encompassing only LULC data and (ii) the second encompassing also statistical data on agricultural practices. The aim is to demonstrate how this additional information improves the identification of HNVf.
In the first step, a Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) technique is applied to a reclassified LULC map, in order to calculate continuous intensity indicators. A Principal Components Analysis and an ISODATA Cluster Analysis are then performed respectively to remove redundant information and to identify the different landscape structures of the study area. The second analysis follows the same steps, with the difference that LULC intensity indicators are analysed in combination with data on crop rotations, irrigation and livestock from a census survey.
The first analysis returns a map of the landscape driven only by different intensities of land use. The second returns a map where the statistics on agricultural practices allow for a better characterisation of the natural value of the landscape. Agricultural statistics improved the results, since they allow the discrimination of lower intensity clusters within the cultivated areas, which are traditionally excluded from HNVf by considering only the land cover. The comparison between the results of the two analyses shows that the combined use of the agricultural statistics determines a more detailed representation of the study area, that allows a better differentiation of the agricultural areas between HNVf and non-HNVf, leading to an improvement of the HNVf identification methodology. The benefit of using additional information can be therefore of interest for territorial planning, with the ultimate aim of promoting biodiversity conservation.
... Aside from urban-rural and agricultural-forest interfaces, various TL typologies coexist with more homogenous landscapes along what can be considered a continuous urban-rural-natural (URN) gradient (Vizzari & Sigura, 2015). Considering landscapes as continua generated by spatial gradients still represents a challenge to the typical view of the structure of the natural (and human) environment (Bridges, Crompton, Schaffer, & Schaefer, 2007). Anthropogenic gradients, recognized by Forman and Godron (1986) in the specific succession of natural-managed-cultivated-suburban-urban landscapes, are characterized by increasing human influences and related typical modifications on the structure and functions of ecosystems (Kroll, Müller, Haase, & Fohrer, 2012;Luck & Wu, 2002). ...
Abstract Urbanization and agriculture can be considered as main drivers of landscape change in many parts of the world, including France, producing particular interacting environmental gradients, which in combination with natural components, give rise to the urban-rural-natural (URN) gradient. Along this gradient, many complex transitional landscapes, in which dynamic processes and unstable conditions occur, can be identified. This research focused on the development of a broadly applicable methodology to classify and analyze the entire URN gradient, beginning with widely available Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) data. Kernel Density Estimation was used to model LULC density gradients and Principal Component and ISODATA cluster analysis were combined to classify the landscape types composing the URN gradient. A particular adjacency graph analysis supported the visualization, a better understanding of the gradient organization, and the discovery of key landscape sequences in the area under investigation. A subsequent characterization of landscape patterns along these sequences, using a database management system and spatial metrics, produced a deeper comprehension of the structures and organization of the landscape along specific portions of the gradient. The discovery and characterization of all the landscape types nested along the URN gradient is crucial to facilitate more effective land use planning in which transitional landscapes assume a key role.
... Urban-to-rural gradient analysis is also useful for examining gradual landscape change at urban fringes. The approach has other advantages, e.g., in environmental modeling it is used to minimize subjectivity in categorizing variability, and in describing ecological processes at urban fringes [49]. It is also used to represent land-use as a gradient and for measuring the spatial attributes of land parcels along gradients, both of which improve our ability to interpret landscapes [31,50]. ...
... Urban-to-rural gradient analysis is also useful for examining gradual landscape change at urban fringes. The approach has other advantages, e.g., in environmental modeling it is used to minimize subjectivity in categorizing variability, and in describing ecological processes at urban fringes [49]. It is also used to represent land-use as a gradient and for measuring the spatial attributes of land parcels along gradients, both of which improve our ability to interpret landscapes [31,50]. ...
One of the major consequences of expansive urban growth is the degradation and loss of productive agricultural land and agroecosystem functions. Four landscape metrics—Percentage of Land (PLAND), Mean Parcel Size (MPS), Parcel Density (PD), and Modified Simpson’s Diversity Index (MSDI)—were calculated for 1 km × 1 km cells along three 50 km-long transects that extend out from the Adelaide CBD, in order to analyze variations in landscape structures. Each transect has different land uses beyond the built-up area, and they differ in topography, soils, and rates of urban expansion. Our new findings are that zones of agricultural land fragmentation can be identified by the relationships between MPS and PD, that these occur in areas where PD ranges from 7 and 35, and that these occur regardless of distance along the transect, land use, topography, soils, or rates of urban growth. This suggests a geometry of fragmentation that may be consistent, and indicates that quantification of both land use and land-use change in zones of fragmentation is potentially important in planning.
... Concerning the problem of scale, approaches such as moving or geographic windows and morphological image processing can help to overcome these shortcomings. They allow for the assessment of landscape change independent of particular landscape delineations and may also facilitate older concepts which treat landscapes as gradients (Bridges, Crompton, & Schaefer, 2007;McGarigal & Cushman, 2005; e.g. evaluations of urban-rural gradients). ...
Over the last decades, landscape metrics have been increasingly used to describe and analyse landscape structure. This article highlights some limitations of standard landscape structure analysis approaches and examines four major developments in this field: ways of integrating the height dimension of surface and vegetation into landscape metrics, the delineation of ‘meaningful’ landscape units comprising the relief, the problem of relating pattern and scale, and the challenges posed by the analysis of the temporal dimension of landscapes. We demonstrate that (1) the integration of height information and gradients into the approach of landscape metrics is both necessary and possible by means of using digital elevation models from remote sensing and novel analysis techniques, (2) the delineation of 3-D landscape units has enormous potential and (3) there are useful methodical extensions for two-dimensional objects in spatiotemporal investigations of landscapes, namely for analysing land use change and for exploring the interrelations between landscape diversity and species diversity.
... This landscape gradient model is based on variable intensities and evaluates a continuous rather than a discrete spatial heterogeneity. Several advantages are recognised in modelling environmental variation as continuous gradients, such as overcoming the subjectivity of defining cut points for variability categorisation and a better description of ecological processes that occur with different intensities in the environment (e.g., organism perception, distribution of resources) (Bridges, Crompton, & Schaffer, 2007). ...
... Landscape has usually been considered as an arrangement of relatively homogeneous patches (vegetation communities, forest types, land covers) which are repeated across the space [1] Land-use and land-cover (LULC) have largely been used as indicators of environmental condition and landscape quality and numerous studies point out land uses as determinant of the state of the natural environment. The view of landscapes as continua and spatial gradients represents a challenge to this conventional view of how the natural (and human) environment is organized [2]. Anthropogenic gradients generated by the increasing intensity of LULC were defined as the specific succession in the space of natural-managed-cultivated-suburban-urban landscapes [3]. ...
Landscapes can be viewed as a continuum and studied using spatial gradients along which environmental modifications determine the structural and functional components of ecosystems. The analysis and quantification of Ecosystem Services, intended as the benefits people obtain from ecosystems, play a crucial role in sustainable landscape planning. In this framework we developed a novel method for the identification and characterization of the landscapes nested along the urban-rural-natural gradient and the analysis of potential ES supply and demand within said landscapes. The Kernel Density Estimation technique was applied to calculate continuous intensity indicators associated with urbanization, agriculture, and natural elements, considered as key components of the gradient. The potential ES demand and supply within each landscape area were assessed using expert–knowledge based indices associated to the LULC CORINE classes. Results showed a complex organization of “pillar” and transitional landscapes along the gradient, which match different bundles of ES demand and supply.
... Of these analysis techniques, gradient analysis is the most typical, as it parallels the intensity of urbanization and can capture the spatio-temporal complexity of landscape pattern (McDonnell and Pickett, 1990). Several recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the combined method of gradient analysis and metric analysis for quantitatively identifying and characterizing the complex spatial pattern of urbanization (Bridges et al., 2007;Luck and Wu, 2002;Seto and Fragkias, 2005;Weng, 2007;Yeh and Huang, 2009;Yu and Ng, 2007). Sampling square blocks is another efficient analysis technique that has been widely used to detect and represent inter-temporal characteristics of land use change (Liu et al., 2005;Wang et al., 2010;Yeh and Huang, 2009). ...
There is an urgent need to quantitatively monitor the spatiotemporal pattern–process interactions of coupled human–environment systems in rapidly urbanizing areas. In this study, we mainly referred to structural(not functional) aspects of land-use pattern, and especially, we targeted at landscape composition and landscape fragmentation. We applied an integrated monitoring approach, to a case study of a new and fast-growing city in the east coast of China. This approach included gradient, spatial overlay and square blocks sampling analysis. The results showed that (1) over the past seven years, the urbanization intensified with its percentage of construction land from 8.19% in 2004 through 17.15% in 2008 to 25.79% in at the cost of more fragmentized agricultural land system and loss of wetland ecosystems; (2) Lianyungang is experiencing rapid urban expansions over the 2004–2008 and 2008–2011 periods in a dispersed and leapfrogged but not compact form; (3) the hypothesis of urban expansion following a process of diffusion and coalescence proposed by Dietzel et al. (2005) were confirmed again by this study; (4) the relationship between patch density of construction land and the degree of urbanization was characterized as an inverted Ushape pattern. Moreover, this study revealed the threshold of the changes of landscape fragmentation while the degree of urbanization is increasing until about 20–40% for Lianyungang city, which should be carefully applied to other places; (5) mean patch size follows an exponential growth or a quadratic growth in the process of urbanization in this study, which is new finding that has not been revealed by other relative case studies reviewed and stand the tests.
... Even culture and related identity are not only about social relationships, but are also profoundly spatial in nature (Stephenson, 2008). The view of landscapes as continua and spatial gradients represents a challenge to the conventional view of how the natural (and human) environment is organised (Bridges, Crompton, & Schaefer, 2007). ...
