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About our Lab
This is the web site of the Laboratory for Anthropogenic Landscape Ecology,
a group of scholars investigating the ecology and
sustainable management of populated landscapes under the
direction of Erle Ellis in the
Department of Geography &
Environmental Systems at UMBC. |
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What are Anthropogenic Landscapes?
Anthropogenic landscapes are areas of Earth's terrestrial
surface where direct human alteration of ecological patterns
and processes is profound, ongoing, and directed toward
servicing the needs of human populations for food, fuel,
fiber, timber, shelter, trade and recreation.
About
Anthropogenic Landscapes
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What are Landscapes?
Ecosystems are spatially heterogeneous across landscapes.
Landscape ecology investigates the causes and consequences of this
spatial heterogeneity across a range of scales.
About
landscapes... |
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What are Ecotopes?Ecotopes are the smallest
ecologically-distinct components of
landscapes.
More on the
definition of "ecotope"... |
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Why Map Ecotopes?
Ecotope mapping stratifies
landscapes into ecologically distinct components, enabling the measurement and
mapping of landscape structure, function and change.
Applications of ecotope mapping...
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A History of Ecotope Mapping
Though ecotope mapping
dates to the birth of landscape ecology, it is as up to date as the latest high
resolution satellite imagery. More on the
history of ecotope mapping....
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