Landscape Ecology as an Emerging Branch of Human Ecosystem Science

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the development of landscape ecology in Central Europe and offers a revision of its principles and concepts in the light of recent insights in general systems theory and human ecology. Its contributions as an emerging, inter-disciplinary ecosystem science are presented. Landscape ecology has its roots in Central and Eastern Europe, where biogeographers have viewed the landscape not just as an aesthetic asset or as part of the physical environment but as the total spatial and visual entity of human living space, integrating the geosphere with the biosphere and the noospheric man-made artifacts. The major principles of a general biosystems theory are discussed. A central feature is the recognition of the total human ecosystem as the highest level of integration, with the ecosphere as the largest, concrete, global landscape entity and the ecotope as the smallest. The visual and spatial integration of the bio-, techno-, and geospheres must be complemented by their functional and structural integration through the creation of a new equilibrium at a higher level of organization and complexity. Landscape ecology is contributing to this goal by supplying scientific, ecological, and educational information.