The eighteenth annual ialeUK (International Association for Landscape Ecology UK) conference has recently taken place at Wolverhampton University with more than eighty people from around the world, writes Carol Miers.
Keynote speeches were by broadcaster and campaigner, Professor Chris Baines, Professor Mark Rounsevell of the University of Edinburgh and Professor Andy Moffat of Forest Research.
But what does a landscape ecologist actually do? I wondered how this affects people who work on gardens and landscapes? Here ialeUK member, Dr Chris Young, senior lecturer at Wolverhampton University answers some questions.
Carol Miers: Dr Young I wonder if you could tell me what landscape ecology is?
Dr Christopher Young: Landscape ecology is the study of interactions, across space and time, between the structure and function of physical, biological and cultural components of landscapes; marine, freshwater, and on land.
It is about seeing how things fit together from a physical, ecological and social perspective as all are interlinked.
CM: Does that mean that landscape ecology covers many different areas, such as geography, biology or perhaps botany?
CY: Yes, that is certainly the case, in fact the interaction of many different specialisms is one of the strengths, as people get exposed to different views.
CM: So for example, if a new road is built then perhaps the removed topsoil is relayed with its seeds while for animals, cross-overs are built to lessen the disruption, is that landscape ecology?
CY: Certainly it is about the bigger picture, how does doing one thing impact on elsewhere and how we can mitigate it. There is a whole vast literature on road ecology (for example RTT Forman, Professor of landscape ecology at the Harvard Graduate School of Design) and the effect this has on the movement of organisms.
The specific cases of designing mitigation measures are an excellent example of landscape designers, who know the materials, working with ecologists, who know the species, working with landscape ecologists, who may have a bigger-scale view.
CM: But back here in the UK, how many landscape ecologists are there?
CY: I have no idea idea about numbers. Many people are landscape ecologists without knowing it. Although with the publicised landscape-scale projects with the Wildlife Trusts and RSPB I guess there are more than ever, and more job opportunities, and with the Lawton Review Making Space for Nature published recently it could well be that many more people are seeing that they have a landscape ecological role or will have one in the future.
CM: How does someone go about becoming trained and what are the job prospects when they finish?
CY: There are not any landscape ecology courses although many academic institutions incorporate elements either explicitly or implicitly into undergraduate or postgraduate courses in conservation-related topics.
In national bodies such as Natural England they are usually referred to as 'spatial ecologists' or something similar but as a defined job description/pathway it doesn't really exist. It is emerging from academia into practice.
CM: I see that Dr Roger Catchpole, of Aspen International is a spatial ecologist for Natural England. But where is the link between this and what people are doing in their gardens. For example, some gardeners are interested in studying plant pollination and that is the relationship of the insects to the plants. How does that fit into landscape ecology?
CY: It would be landscape ecology if the person was studying the location of the plants in the landscape and the ways in which the pollinators were accessing that resource.
CM: So, types of plant in the landscape and where the insects came from, then, take other landscapes and practitioners for example in forests. In what way is a landscape ecologist who works with forests different to a silvologist or a landscape engineer?
CY: I guess a landscape ecologist is about targeting woodland creation and hedgerow management. For example, in order to provide the most joined-up landscape rather than just creating these for the sake of it.
It is getting the bigger picture about how any new areas relate to others and what extra benefits that may then bring above and beyond the wood or the hedgerow itself.
There will no doubt be more signs of landscape ecology influences in day to day life. Terms like movement corridors and edge effects will be household words. Even now, the Co-operative are planning a North South East West pathway for bees in their Plan Bee, written about in Landscape Juice.
Related articles: The Co-operative plans Bee Roads to help insects
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