Diversity in riparian landscapes

Abstract

Biological diversity (biodiversity) is the number of organisms and their distribution within the ecosphere(Earth). Conservingbiodiversity hasbecome amajorissue inthe conservation and management of Earth's natural resources (Noss and Cooperrider 1994). However, studies of biodiversityhave focusedprimarily on the variety of species Withina given area. In total,biodiversity depends on the diversity of ecosystems within a landscape as well. Thus, bothorganism diversity and landscape diversity are needed for aholistie view of biodiversity (Rowe 1992). Landscape ecosystems are volumetric, structured segments of the Earth. The • eeosphere is the largest ecosystem we know, and the Earth can be subdivided into a . hierarchical series of ecosystems from large,to small --- from global to local (Rowe 1992; Bailey 1996;Barnes et al. 1998, 34-40). A perceptible ecosystem is a topographic unit, a volume of land and air plus organic contents, extending over a particular part of the Earth's surface for a certain time (Rowe 1961). Therefore, in this chapter we focus on ecosystem diversity, defined as the number, kind, and pattern of landscape and waterscape ecosystems in a specified area and the ecological processes that are associated with these patterns (Lapin and Barnes 1995). One can then characterize eeosysterns as to their composition, structure, and function -- the attributes Of diversity (Crow et al. 1994). Our objectives are to: (1) provide an example of a landscape ecosystem approach to characterizing ecosystem diversity in riparian areas by presenting a ease study, (2) consider the importance of riparian areas toregional ecosystem diversity, and (3) examine and summarize management practices that conserve diversity in riparian areas.