Assessing the landscape context and conversion risk of protected areas using satellite data products

Since the establishment of the first national park (Yellowstone National Park in 1872) and the first wildlife refuge (Pelican Island in 1903), dramatic changes have occurred in both ecological and cultural landscapes across the U.S. The ability of these protected areas to maintain current levels of biodiversity depend, at least in part, on the integrity of the surrounding landscape. Our objective was to quantify and compare the extent and pattern of natural land cover, risk of conversion, and relationships with demographic and economic variables in counties near National Park Service units and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges with those counties distant from either type of protected area in the coterminous United States. Our results indicate that landscapes in counties within 10 km of both parks and refuges and those within 10 km of just parks were more natural, more intact, and more protected than those in counties within 10 km of just refuges and counties greater than 10 km from either protected area system. However, they also had greater human population density and change in population, indicating potential conversion risk since the percent of landscape protected averaged < 5% in both groups and human population dynamics are primary drivers of change in many landscapes. Conversion outweighed protection by at least two times (Conservation Risk Index > 2) in 76% of counties near both parks and refuges, 81% of counties near just parks, 91% of counties near just refuges, and 93% of distant counties. Thirteen percent of counties in the coterminous U.S. had moderate to high amounts of natural land cover (> 60%), low protection (< 20%), and the greatest change in population (> 20%). Although these areas are not the most critically endangered, they represent the greatest conservation opportunity, need, and urgency. Our approach is based on national level metrics that are simple, general, informative, and can be understood by broad audiences and by policy makers and managers to assess the health of lands surrounding parks and refuges. Regular monitoring of these metrics with satellite data products in counties surrounding protected areas provides a consistent, national level assessment of management opportunities and potentially adverse changes on adjacent lands.     

Connectivity of core habitat in the Northeastern United States: Parks and protected areas in a landscape context

The exurbanization process, particularly rural residential development, is reducing the amount of roadless areas and remote habitat across the nation, with implications for biodiversity and ecosystem integrity of parks and protected areas. The need for connecting protected areas via existing habitat centers, or relatively undisturbed core areas, is greater than ever as exurbanization expands. Our objective was to make use of nationally available data sets on roads as well as information derived from satellite imagery, including impervious cover of the built environment and forest canopy density, to identify core habitat of the northeastern and mid-Atlantic USA. The identified core habitat areas, which covered 73,730 km² across 1177 discrete units, were stratified in terms of land ownership and management, and then analyzed in a landscape context using connectivity metrics derived from graph theory. The connectivity analysis made use of a suitability surface, derived from the land cover information, which approximated the costs incurred by hypothetical animals traversing the landscape. We show that protected areas are frequently identified as core habitat but are typically isolated, albeit sometimes buffered by adjacent multi-use lands (such as state or national forests). Over one third of the core habitat we identified has no protection, and another 42% is subject to motorized recreation or timber extraction. We provide maps showing the relative importance of core habitat areas for potentially connecting existing protected areas, and also provide an example of the vulnerability of connectivity to projected future residential development around one greater park ecosystem.     

关于元明清时期《世说新语》的媒介传播探究

《世说新语》是我国现存的第一部志人小说,自此书出世后便拥有了众多的读者,对于后世影响深远《。世说新语》一书,在元代以前,其主要接受者是社会上层的文人士大夫。而在元明清时期《,世说新语》则走出了文人的书房,其故事被改编成多种形式,在市民阶层中广泛流传。传播对象的巨大转变,使得研究其在传播学中的作用,就显得更加有意义。     

从雅集图“观”女性园林空间的景与境

雅集作为中国古代以男性为主体的文人雅致生活的表现方式,在明清以后,以女性为主体的雅集活动逐渐兴起。私家园林作为女性雅集的空间载体,被文学作品或图像史料予以记录和直观表达,为研究园林中的女性活动空间提供了重要基础。研究采用图像分析法和社会学分析方法,从文人结社与女性雅集的关系入手,以清代《湖楼请业图》为研究对象,对湖楼诗会的时空背景做出阐述,围绕园林空间分布、 景观要素经营和女性活动特点三方面探讨了二维图像所表现的人景关系;同时拓展到对该时期才女群体所创造的独特文化景观的理解。     

桂林市环城水系水环境整治和通航工设计

桂林市抓住了山水名城的特征，从“水”字上做文章，对环城水系进行整治，兴建两江四湖工程，使漓江、桃花江的游船经船闸或升船机驶入中心城市的木龙湖、桂湖、榕湖和杉湖，更添山水城市独特景观。本文据作者1999－2001年在桂林参与该工程规划设计及工程实施，概要地阐述了两江四湖整治和通航设计中的主要问题，以有对环境景观的要求。这是水利工程服务城市环境的一项环境水利工程，也是新世纪水利工程的一项新课题。     

地理设计简述：概念、框架及实例

简要地介绍了地理设计的概念、框架并列举了一个实际的应用实例。首先追溯了地理设计的历史渊源,其后讲解了它的关键概念。地理设计并非是一个新的学科,而是一种新的理念,并在技术上借助地理信息系统、整合并协调诸如城市规划、风景园林、建筑设计等传统学科的一种集成的努力。地理设计为改善甚至拯救环境提供了一个有力的手段。以地理位置为基础的规划设计是地理设计的基础。讲解了地理设计框架的核心内容,即四方参与及六大过程往复循环发展,引用了一个运用地理设计原理在城市规划方面的应用的近期实例。     

Using Landscape Characteristics for Targeting Habitat Conservation and Restoration: A case study of ancient semi-natural woodland in the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,UK

Ancient semi-natural deciduous woodland is a rare and threatened habitat cited by the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). Current protection of this endangered habitat in the UK takes the form of site-specific reserve designations but, if the habitat is to be conserved and enhanced, a landscape-scale selective targeting system is required. In the absence of suitable species data, physical attributes of habitat patches are used as surrogate indicators of biodiversity. Using a land-use database held on a geographical information system, values of four abiotic criteria (patch area, patch shape, nearest-neighbour distance and surrounding land use) of 48 ancient semi-natural woodland patches in part of the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty were calculated. In order to validate the findings, three lists of floral and faunal species, indicative of ancient semi-natural woodland, were compiled, and the patches ranked according to their alpha diversity using each list. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated for patch alpha diversity and patch area (0.322 to 0.482), patch shape (0.275 to 0.465) and nearest-neighbour distance ( - 0.092 to - 0.223). Multiple regression indicated that between 15 and 22% of the variation in alpha patch diversity was explained by the abiotic factors. It is suggested that spatial targeting at the landscape scale is a valuable approach to habitat conservation.     

Charting the Potential of Landscape Urbanism in Dubai

Landscape Urbanism has been, to date, a theory emerging primarily from the Western world. This paper counters the Western focus by exploring the potential of Landscape Urbanism theory in Dubai. In a previous article published by the author, landscape architecture in Dubai has been identified as diverging from the tenets of the various charters of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), having apparently scant regard for pressing ecological, social and cultural design issues. Landscape Urbanism in this paper is discussed with respect to its ability to bolster the practice of landscape architecture in Dubai in relation to these issues. The paper argues that a number of key facets of Landscape Urbanism appear difficult to reconcile with the ecological, social and cultural conditions of Dubai. Further to this, it tends to lack the tools by which landscape urbanists in Dubai could link theory with practice.     

Lawyering Landscapes: Lawyers as Constituents of Landscape

Landscape and law cross-influence each other. Legal rules shape landscapes, while landscapes shape the culture from which rules emerge. In describing this interplay, landscape can seem passive, as a canvas on which laws paint visions of society; or active, as a matrix for the creation of law and culture. An alternative view is suggested: landscapes are opportunities for action, fields within which individuals interact with context in a mutually adaptive relationship. Lawyers are specialized constituents of this adaptation. Lawyers' acts and practices help to constitute the adaptations that shape a given landscape. A teaching module in which it was sought to prompt law students to become aware of the adaptive role of lawyering in landscape is described. The results suggest useful theoretical and methodological insights into landscape as a field of human activity, and the need for further study of lawyering as a force in the construction of landscape.     

Ecological Landscape Planning: A gaming approach in education

An understanding of the complex problems of land-use competition requires an appreciation of natural processes, cultural values, economic imperatives and political agendas. This integrated understanding is an important component of the study programme for higher education students seeking a professional qualification in landscape architecture. A repertoire of game templates is introduced as an initial step in formulating a conceptual framework for the curriculum/games designer to explore the potential of play in ecological landscape planning. The concepts of social action space, permissible action space and motivational action space are used to investigate the qualities of each template for further game design development. The abstraction of these concepts may assist the designer to move beyond the usability of games into viewing their value as a learning method.