Forest Landscape Ecology

Forested landscapes have provided many important testing grounds for the devel- ment and application of landscape ecological principles and methods in North America. This central role of forests in landscape ecology emerged for several reasons. Forest cover is prominent in many regions of North America, from the temperate deciduous forests of the east to the coniferous forests of the north and west. Changes in forest spatial patterns are readily apparent to the human eye—natural disturbances and timber harvests alter the arrangement of forest age classes across the landscape and this, in turn, influences many species and ecosystem processes; land-use changes have produced profound fluctuations in forest cover over several centuries; increasing re- dential development in rural areas is often concentrated within forests; and public lands include many forested landscapes. Management actions, such as varying the amount, size, and location of harvests, also represent landscape-scale “experiments” that provide valuable opportunities for study. Finally, forest patterns are readily detectable from remote imagery, and are thus amenable to study at broad scales. For these reasons, forests have provided motivation and many opportunities for studying the complex relationships between patterns and processes in many areas. The importance of landscape-level considerations in the management and c- servation of forested landscapes has become increasingly important, and a variety of stakeholders are involved.