Landscape Ecology: Theory and Applications

Landscape ecology is the study of how spatial patterns and ecological processes influence one another. For example, how does agricultural intensification affect farmland bird biodiversity? How will bark beetle outbreaks in British Columbia change wildfire patterns? In this course we will study the theory and applications of landscape ecology, with an emphasis on the use of GIS, including freely available software tools (CONEFOR, MaxEnt, FRAGSTATS, LANDIS-II), to explore these questions. Major topics will include: causes of landscape pattern, approaches to describing and quantifying landscape configuration, landscape simulation, habitat modeling, global change, and conservation. (GEOG 0120) 3 hrs. lect./3 hrs. lab.