Landscapes and Seascapes

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Landscapes and Seascapes
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The Landscape Concept

• Landscaper Perspective
• The concept that effective management and
  conservation recognizes that ecosystems,
  populations and species are interconnected across
  large geographic areas

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Landscapes

• The Earths landscapes may be classified into
  many use categories
• Forested
• Pasture
• Agricultural
• Deserts
• Wetlands
• Urban.

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Modern Conflicts over Forest Land and Forest
Resources

• Silviculture the the professional growing of
  trees
• Forests benefit people through public service
  functions functions performed by ecosystems for
  the betterment of life and human existence
• Ex) cleansing of air by trees

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Forest Areas

• Data from the mid-1970s show a total of 2.5
  Billion hectares of closed forest and 1.2 Billion
  hectares of open woodland forest and savannas
  worldwide (1 hectare2.47 acres).
• Old growth forests No trees cut in the last
  250 years.
• Second growth forests Cut forest that is
  regrowing.

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Forest Areas

• In the U.S. 340 million hectares of commercial
  forests 75 in the east (pine of the southeast)
  and 25 in the northwest and Alaska.
• 62 are privately owned, 19 on U.S. Forest
  Service Land and 19 on other federal lands.

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Forest Areas

• Human benefits of forests
• Fuel
• Building materials
• Positive environmental effects on
• Soil
• Water supplies
• Habitat availability
• Global chemical and climate cycles.

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Forest Areas

• Commercial forestry
• Two major forms of forestry management
• Plantations managed for either maximum
  sustainable yield of wood for lumber or a short
  rotation for wood pulp (paper). These are
  even-aged timber stands.
• Natural regrowth regrowth after seedlings from
  neighboring mature trees have fallen.

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Forest Areas

• Clear Cutting
• A practice of cutting all trees in a stand down,
  no matter what species, down and leaving nothing
  but stumps and unvegetated soil.
• No trees are left to reseed the area, depends on
  humans to place seedlings.
• Clear cutting increases soil erosion and
  runoff.increased nitrates and sedimentation in
  streams.

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Effects of Clear Cutting on Forest Nutrient
Cycling.
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Forest Areas

• Alternatives of clear cutting
• The main advantage to clear cutting to timber
  companies is the low cost of harvesting.
• Alternative all involve cutting fewer trees per
  unit time.increased cost of harvesting.

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Forest Areas

• Alternatives
• Selective cutting Small groups of marked trees
  are cut. The remaining forest stays intact and
  can regenerate.
• Benefits Natural seed source, little or no
  erosion, and minimal impact on wildlife habitat.

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Forest Areas

• Shelterwood cutting All mature wood is harvested
  over a period of time (30 years).
• Benefits Natural reseeding, low erosion and some
  trees are always present.
• Strip cutting Cutting of a long, wide swath of
  forested area.
• Reseeding, protection of small trees from wind
  and sun, soil erosion can be high.

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Forest Areas

• Seed-tree Cutting All the trees, except for a
  few scattered mature trees are cut. The mature
  trees left behind function to reseed area.
• Benefit Reseeding, soil erosion is high.

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Sustainable Forestry

• What is it?
• Sustainable timber harvests wood production
  sustained over a large period of time under a
  maximum sustainable yield model on a tree
  plantation.
• Sustainable forest harvests Forest ecosystems
  functions are sustained for an indefinite period
  of time.

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Forest Harvest Areas

• Over the past 100 years, forest harvest rates
  have been higher than the rates of regrowth and
  recovery.
• This is a non-sustainable practice.
• Good?

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Ecosystem Approach in Modern Forestry
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Sustainable Forest

• Def Efforts to manage a forest so that a
  resource in it can be harvested at a rate that
  does not decrease the ability of the forest
  ecosystem to continue to provide that same rate
  of harvest indefinitely.
• Three are few examples of this. The
  certification of sustainable forestry
  developed. This involves
• Determining which methods appear most consistent
  with sustainability
• Comparing the management of a specific forest
  with those standards

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4 Ways Vegetation Can Effect the Atmosphere

• Changing color of the surface and the amount of
  sunlight reflected and absorbed
• Increasing the amount of water transpired and
  evaporated from the surface to the atmosphere
• Changing the rate at which greenhouse gases are
  released from the Earths surface into the
  atmosphere
• Changing the surface roughness, which affects
  wind speed at the surface

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Island Biogeography Theory

• Parks or preserves are islands surrounded by a
  changed environment.
• Generally, the larger the island the more
  biodiversity.
• However, several small parks of the same area of
  a large park may have as many species.
• Advantage Guard against catastrophic loss.

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Island Biogeography Theory

• Park boundaries should be drawn with wildlife
  use in mind.
• Often, species range beyond the park boundaries
  and conflict with other disturbances may impact
  the species.
• Wildlife corridors between parks and nature
  preserves allow safe migration and increased gene
  pools for biodiversity.

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Park Lands

• How much land is needed for a park?
• Recommended 10 of the total land area of a
  country.NO SET AMOUNT BEEN PROVEN.
• The U.S. has 10.5 in parkland and wilderness
  areas.

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Large Park
Small Park More diversity
Small Parks joined by Migration Pathways
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Park Lands

• The Edge Effect
• A DISTURBANCE ZONE LIES NEXT TO A PARK AREA
• More wind
• More erosion
• More light
• Loss of species.
• Could affect the entire park area.

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Ocean Affects on Climate

• Oceans buffer and moderate the air temperature of
  the Earth. (Control extremes).
• Water has a high heat storage capacity and stores
  a large amount of energy.
• Oceanic currents move the heat absorbed at the
  equator northward, heating land units as it
  moves.
• The ocean moves the stored heat from the equator.

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Fisheries

• A fishery is a predator-prey interaction.
• Humans are the predator.and always a part of a
  fisheries management plan.
• Types of fisheries
• Commercial
• Recreational
• Substinence.

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Fisheries

• The annual wild harvest of all world fisheries
  exceeds 101.4 million metric tons per year.
• Marine fisheries 82 million metric tons
• Increase in production has decreased to 2 per
  year.
• Overfishing When more fish are removed than can
  be replaced by natural growth and reproduction.

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A Age of fish 1941 1943. B Age of fish
1961 1963 C Total Catch Size.
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Fishery Management

• Current models rely on the logistic growth curve
  and mathematical models based on Maximum
  Sustainable Yield.
• In the U.S. a regional council was established
  under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation Act.
• Govern fisheries in federal waters (3-200 miles
  offshore). States govern lt3miles out.

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Whales

• There are nine species of commercially harvested
  whales that are considered threatened or
  endangered remaining in the oceans.
• What whale is the largest?
• Is it an endangered species?

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Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972

• Gave special protective status to whales, seals,
  dolphins, sea otters and other marine mammals.
• Those who accidentally harm any of these species
  are subject to fine.