Jae C. Choe

John A. Lee

Sun-Kee Hong

Byung-Sun Ihm

A. Farina

Yowhan Son

Kim Eun-Shik

This volume offers selected contributions to the 8th International Congress of Ecology to illuminate large-scale ecological problems and discuss how these can be managed through a variety of planning processes. From mathematical approaches to improve understanding of complex ecosystems, to monitoring activity and human impact, this book covers a truly global range of issues. The book concludes with a summary of the Congress, and a discussion of possible future directions.

Status, Response and Strategy

Ecological Issues in a Changing World

Jan Bogaert

Qingwen Min

This book is devoted to the cultural and biological dimensions and values of landscapes, linking the concepts of biodiversity, landscape and culture and presenting an essential approach for landscape analysis, interpretation and sustainable dynamics. Early chapters explore the concepts and values of biocultural landscapes, before addressing the methodology to identify the relationship between biological and cultural diversity. The volume continuous with a series of case studies and with an exploration of the key role of biocultural diversity in contemporary landscape ecology. Readers will learn the importance of landscapes for different fields of natural and human sciences and are confronted to the trans-disciplinary nature of the landscape concept itself. A hierarchical approach to landscapes, in which they are composed of interacting (eco)systems, is shown to be essential in recognizing their emergent properties. In this work, the biocultural values of landscapes are explored through their diversity in geographical scopes, methodological approaches and conceptual assumptions. Authors from Asia, Europe and North-America present diverse research experiences and views on biocultural landscapes, their pattern, conservation and management. Landscape ecologists will find this work particularly appealing, as well as anyone with an interest in sustainable landscape development, nature conservation or cultural heritage management. This volume is the outcome of a symposium on “Biodiversity in Cultural Landscapes”, organized in the framework of the 8th IALE World Congress, held in Beijing in 2011.

Diversity, Functions and Values

Biocultural Landscapes

Jianguo Wu

Nobukazu Nakagoshi

Jae-Eun Kim

Cultural landscapes are a product of the interactions between humans and natural settings. They are landscapes and seascapes that are shaped by human history and land use. Socioeconomic processes especially, but also environmental changes and natural disturbances, are some of the forces that make up landscape dynamics. To understand and manage such complex landscapes, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches are necessary, emphasizing the integration of natural and social sciences and considering multiple landscape functions. The spatial patterns of Asian landscapes are strongly related to human activities and their impacts. Anthropogenic patterns and processes have created numerous traditional cultural landscapes throughout the region, and understanding them requires indigenous knowledge. Cultural landscape ecology from a uniquely Asian perspective is explored in this book, as are the management of landscapes and land-use policies. Human-dominated landscapes with long traditions, such as those described herein, provide useful information for all ecologists, not only in Asia, to better understand the human–environmental relationship and landscape sustainability.

Landscape Ecology in Asian Cultures

Sun-Kee Hong

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