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Laboratory for Landscape and Conservation Ecology
The Laboratory for Landscape and Conservation Ecology (LLACE) at
Kansas State University is broadly concerned with investigating
the causes and consequences of ecological heterogeneity, the
reciprocal effects of spatial pattern on ecological process.
Research in the LLACE is conducted at the interface of landscape
ecology and conservation biology, and is distinguished by a
combination of theoretical and field-based investigations into
the ecological consequences of habitat loss, fragmentation and
land management. |
| The Geometry of Land
Use. (K. A. With. 2014.
Essentials of Landscape Ecology,
Sinauer & Associates, Sunderland, MA) |
Landscape Ecology
and Conservation Biology: A Research Nexus
Humans have transformed landscapes on a global scale,
leading to the loss, fragmentation and degradation of native
habitats. Not coincidentally, we are in the midst of a global
biodiversity crisis, in which species are going extinct at
unprecedented rates, mostly as a consequence of anthropogenic
habitat loss. Landscape ecology has emerged to deal with the
human dimensions of land use, in response to the growing recognition
that we
need to manage natural resources at broader landscape scales.
Landscape ecology also addresses more generally the effect of
spatial pattern (such as habitat fragmentation) on ecological processes.
Conservation biology, in turn, has arisen to address the alarming loss of biodiversity, which often
requires an understanding of human land-use activities, such as
those leading to habitat loss and fragmentation. Thus,
landscape ecology and conservation biology are complementary: a
landscape ecological approach to conservation can address
some of the major problems contributing to the biodiversity crisis.
Research Focus
Research in the LLACE spans a wide range of scales and a diverse
array of systems, from lab-based research involving
computer
simulation modeling on virtual landscapes, to the investigation of
arthropod responses to habitat fragmentation in experimental
landscape plots in both the field and lab, to the response of
vertebrate populations to land-management practices throughout the
Flint Hills of eastern Kansas. Some past and current research projects include:
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Modeling extinction risk for migratory songbirds in response to
habitat loss and fragmentation |
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Regional assessment of population viability for
grassland birds in the Flint Hills, the largest remaining tallgrass-prairie landscape in the world |
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The
landscape ecology of invasive spread |
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Analysis of landscape and population connectivity for species
within managed grasslands |
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Experimental study of the relative effects of habitat area
versus fragmentation on community patterns and species
interactions |
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Assessing the risk of disease spread in heterogeneous landscapes
(landscape epidemiology)
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