Exactly 25 years ago on a warm autumn afternoon a young ecologist walked slowly through a tiny oak wood, and perched on a log to reflect. He had measured and seemingly knew "all" the species present - trees, mosses, mushrooms, birds and more. The research, based on this and other woods in the landscape, was the first rigorous test to see if island biogeographic theory was of use in heterogeneous land. Unexpectedly, an interior-to-edge model was found to be more useful. But on this beautiful sunny day he gazed out through the trees at the surrounding bean and maize fields. Suddenly a terrible...

The urgent need for a sustainable environment has resulted in the increased recognition of the field of landscape ecology amongst policy makers working in the area of nature conservation, restoration and territorial planning. Nonetheless, the question of what is precisely meant by the term landscape ecology'is still unresolved. No doubt, a proper foundation of the discipline must first be cemented. This book develops such a foundation. In doing so it provides all the diverse applications of the discipline with a solid framework and proposes an effective diagnostic methodology to investigate...

L ecologia del paesaggio biologico-integrata, o meglio Bionomia del Paesaggio, si propone come un atto di rifondazione della disciplina iniziato dall Autore una dozzina di anni fa, con l appoggio di Richard Forman, basato sul riconoscimento del paesaggio come specifico livello dell organizzazione della vita sulla Terra. A scala territoriale, in un determinato ambito geografico, il paesaggio si definisce come integrazione di un insieme di comunita vegetali, animali ed umane e del loro sistema di ecosistemi naturali, seminaturali e antropico-culturali in una certa configurazione spaziale, cioe...

Building on a decade of theoretical and methodological progress in landscape bionomics, this book acknowledges that well-intentioned landscape interventions can cause serious damage, and explains the concept of ecologists as "physicians" of ecological systems.

This book aims to explore the impact of human alterations of Earth’s ecological systems on human health. Human activities are producing fundamental biophysical changes faster than ever before in the history of our species, which are accompanied by dangerous health effects. Drawing on advanced ecological principles, the book demonstrates the importance of using systemic medicine to study the effects of ecological alterations on human health.Planetary Health is an interdisciplinary field, but first of all it must be systemic and it needs a preferential relationship between Ecology and...