Applications of Ecoregional Patterns
12
This method of understanding processes and
resultant patterns provides important design
inspiration for sampling networks and managed
landscapes that are sustainable, as well as their
relevance to ecosystem management and
research. These applications are reviewed here;
see the author’s Ecoregion-Based Design for
Sustainability (Bailey 2002) and Research
Applications of Ecosystem Patterns (Bailey
2009a) for details, as well as Dranstad et al.
(1996), Knight and Reiners (2000), Thayer
(2003), van der Ryn and Cowan (1996), and
Woodward (2000). A new geography text of the
United States and Canada by Chris Mayda
(2012) explores sustainability within the framework of ecological regions
12.1 Design for Sustainability
As outlined in the previous chapter, ecosystems
recur in predictable patterns within an ecoregion
thereby reflecting processes that create these
patterns. Ecoregion-based analysis strives to
identify and explain geographic patterns in
ecosystems in terms of formative process.
Ecoregional design is based on the assumption
that the factors which shape these patterns can be
used to guide planning and design of landscapes,
resulting in human-built environments which are
designed differently to best fit each ecoregion’s
unique characteristics. By working with nature’s
design, designers and planners can create
landscapes that function sustainably like natural
ecosystems.
Several steps lead toward implementing this
approach.
12.1.1 Understand Ecosystem Pattern
in Terms of Process
Rather than occurring randomly, local ecosystem
units occur in repetitive spatial patterns within an
area called an “ecoregion.” These patterns reflect
a formative process. For example, rocky
reservoirs support pines within grasslands of the
semiarid Great Plains of the central United States
(Woodward 2000). The relationship between pattern and process will vary by region.
12.1.2 Use Pattern to Design
Sustainable Landscapes
The natural patterns and processes of a particular
region provide essential keys to the sustainability
of ecosystems, and can inspire designs for
landscapes that sustain themselves. To be sustainable, a designed landscape should imitate
the natural ecosystem patterns of the surrounding
ecoregion in which they are embedded. As we
saw before, trees signify rocky reservoirs of
available water on the arid Great Plains. Planting
these same trees on fine-grained plain soils, with
only atmospheric precipitation to sustain them
would kill the trees. By working with nature’s
R.G. Bailey, Ecoregions, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-0524-9_12, # Springer Science+Media, LLC 2014
111
12
This method of understanding processes and
resultant patterns provides important design
inspiration for sampling networks and managed
landscapes that are sustainable, as well as their
relevance to ecosystem management and
research. These applications are reviewed here;
see the author’s Ecoregion-Based Design for
Sustainability (Bailey 2002) and Research
Applications of Ecosystem Patterns (Bailey
2009a) for details, as well as Dranstad et al.
(1996), Knight and Reiners (2000), Thayer
(2003), van der Ryn and Cowan (1996), and
Woodward (2000). A new geography text of the
United States and Canada by Chris Mayda
(2012) explores sustainability within the framework of ecological regions
12.1 Design for Sustainability
As outlined in the previous chapter, ecosystems
recur in predictable patterns within an ecoregion
thereby reflecting processes that create these
patterns. Ecoregion-based analysis strives to
identify and explain geographic patterns in
ecosystems in terms of formative process.
Ecoregional design is based on the assumption
that the factors which shape these patterns can be
used to guide planning and design of landscapes,
resulting in human-built environments which are
designed differently to best fit each ecoregion’s
unique characteristics. By working with nature’s
design, designers and planners can create
landscapes that function sustainably like natural
ecosystems.
Several steps lead toward implementing this
approach.
12.1.1 Understand Ecosystem Pattern
in Terms of Process
Rather than occurring randomly, local ecosystem
units occur in repetitive spatial patterns within an
area called an “ecoregion.” These patterns reflect
a formative process. For example, rocky
reservoirs support pines within grasslands of the
semiarid Great Plains of the central United States
(Woodward 2000). The relationship between pattern and process will vary by region.
12.1.2 Use Pattern to Design
Sustainable Landscapes
The natural patterns and processes of a particular
region provide essential keys to the sustainability
of ecosystems, and can inspire designs for
landscapes that sustain themselves. To be sustainable, a designed landscape should imitate
the natural ecosystem patterns of the surrounding
ecoregion in which they are embedded. As we
saw before, trees signify rocky reservoirs of
available water on the arid Great Plains. Planting
these same trees on fine-grained plain soils, with
only atmospheric precipitation to sustain them
would kill the trees. By working with nature’s
R.G. Bailey, Ecoregions, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-0524-9_12, # Springer Science+Media, LLC 2014
111