Landscape Fragmentation

Links

(1) A literature review that has the title "End of the Road" was published by the "Natural Resources Defence Council" (NRDC) in New York in December 1999. This study summarizes the key results of each article in one sentence ('key finding') and then gives a summary of the paper in the form of an abstract. However, this study does not include neither German literature nor literature from France or from the Netherlands. The study includes the effects of clear-cutting of forests. It is structured into the sections "Harm to wildlife", "Spread of tree diseases and bark beetles", "Promotion of insect infestations", "Invasion by harmful non-native plant and animal species", "Damage to soil resources and tree growth", "Impacts on aquatic ecosystems" and "General review papers on the ecological effects of roads". It does not contain tables giving overviews, recommendations, or discussions of the results comparing the various studies but is limited to a strictly descriptive presentation. http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/roads/eotrinx.asp

(2) „Fragstats" probably is the best known program to analyze the structure of landscapes quantitatively. Five years after the release of version 2.0 (in 1995) the updated and extended version 3.0 became available. It includes the three new landscape metrics "effective mesh size", "landscape division" and "splitting index" that Jochen Jaeger has developed (Jaeger 2000a). These measures have been discussed in the new section "Subdivision Metrics" of version 3.0. To find a description of these metrics follow the link and then go to "Fragstats Metrics". http://www.umass.edu/landeco/research/fragstats/fragstats.html

(3) The "Infra Eco Network Europe" (IENE) is a community of experts and institutions on the European level that is concerned with the problem of habitat fragmentation and dissection caused by transportation infrastructure. The network brings the experts together to foster the exchange of knowledge and practical experience among the European countries.   http://www.iene.info

(4) Dr. Martin Scheringer from the ETH Zurich is doing research on the

question of how environmental intrusions can be assessed with more

emphasis of the precautionary principle in the future. To this end, he has

developed the concept of environmental threat (for the example of

environmental chemicals). A second important topic of his work is the

question of what the general characteristics of problem-oriented trans-

disciplinary research projects are and how such projects can be structured

most suitably and how they can be fostered more efficiently in the current

research system.   http://ltcmail.ethz.ch/scheri/

(5) The group "Environment and Risk Prevention" at the ETH Zurich is also

interested in environmental chemicals, in new ways of applying the

precautionary principle, and in the concept of environmental threat. It is led

by professor Dr. U. Müller-Herold.   http://www.ecorisk.ethz.ch/team.html

(6) The journal "GAIA: Ecological Perspectives in Science, Humanities,

and Economics" is a unique journal for the publication of trans-disciplinary

research articles. It combines scientific quality standards with an appealing

lay-out (e.g., due to high quality figures in colours) and is well written to

attract a broad audience from various disciplines. General topics are

environmental research in all its width, environmental precaution strategies,

and the development of a sustainable economy. GAIA is a double-blind

reviewed scientific journal. Jochen Jaeger is a member of the scientific

advisory board of GAIA (since 2004). 

http://www.oekom.de/zeitschriften/gaia.html

(7) In 2003 the Center for Road Ecology at the University of California in

Davis was founded. http://roadecology.ucdavis.edu/