American Alligator Distribution and Abundance in Relation to Landscape Pattern and Temporal Characteristics of the Everglades [Preliminary Draft]
Fleming D. 1990. American Alligator Distribution and Abundance in Relation to Landscape Pattern and Temporal Characteristics of the Everglades [Preliminary Draft]
The restoration of wilderness ecosystems in human-dominated landscapes "must involve strategies that have a landscape level of focus, if the natural dynamics of disturbance regimes are to be accommodated by natural populations that fluctuate through time ... Large animals with large home ranges, ecological specialists, and species that depend on patchy or predictable resources are most vulnerable to extinctions if functional, landscape mosaics are not protected. Populations of such species that are restricted within landscapes of insufficient size and mosaic composition often experience declines related to environmental stochasticity, demographic stochasticity, social dysfunction, or genetic deterioration" (Noss, 1987). Natural areas in such fragmented landscapes are also characterized by " a replacement of native communities in natural abundance patterns by an artificial and impoverished assemblage of species that require explicit conservation strategies" (Noss, 1987).
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Fleming, D. Martin
- Date of Issue
- 1990-12
- Units
- EVER
- Keywords
- alligator, Ecosystems, hyrodological processes, Population Dynamics, Restoration