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Ecological Disturbance

Ecological Disturbance

An ecological disturbance is a temporary disruption in the environment resulting from abiotic, biotic, or anthropogenic factors, causing a pronounced change in an ecosystem. The impact of an ecological disturbance, which can depend on its intensity, frequency, and spatial distribution, plays a significant role in shaping the species diversity within the ecosystem.

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 13, 2026

Methods of Soil Resampling to Monitor Changes in the Chemical Concentrations of Forest Soils

Methods of Soil Resampling to Monitor Changes in the Chemical Concentrations of Forest Soils

Published on: November 25, 2016

Comparing Spatial Pattern in Unaltered Old-Growth and Disturbed Forest Landscapes.

David J Mladenoff, Mark A White, John Pastor

Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America

|May 1, 1993

Summary

Human activity alters forest structure, creating more small patches and simpler shapes in disturbed areas compared to intact old-growth forests. These findings can guide forest restoration and biodiversity management.

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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2026

Methods of Soil Resampling to Monitor Changes in the Chemical Concentrations of Forest Soils

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Published on: November 25, 2016

Sampling Soils in a Heterogeneous Research Plot

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Development of an Individual-Tree Basal Area Increment Model using a Linear Mixed-Effects Approach

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Area of Science:

Forest Ecology
Landscape Ecology
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Background:

Old-growth forests possess unique structural patterns crucial for ecosystem functioning.
Human disturbances can significantly alter forest landscape spatial patterns and heterogeneity.
Understanding these alterations is key for effective forest restoration and biodiversity conservation.

Purpose of the Study:

To determine if characteristic landscape structural patterns distinguish primary old-growth forests from disturbed forests.
To assess the effects of human activity on forest spatial patterns using GIS analysis.
To identify structural differences that can inform forest restoration and management strategies.

Main Methods:

Utilized Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze forest landscape structure.
Compared a second-growth forest landscape with scattered old-growth patches to a nearby, unaltered old-growth landscape.
Analyzed forest patch size, shape (fractal dimension), and ecosystem juxtapositions.

Main Results:

Disturbed landscapes exhibit significantly more small forest patches and fewer large matrix patches than intact old-growth landscapes.
Forest patches in disturbed landscapes have simpler shapes (lower fractal dimension) compared to intact old-growth.
Key ecosystem juxtapositions, like hemlock with lowland conifers, are lost in disturbed areas.

Conclusions:

Distinct structural features differentiate disturbed and old-growth forest landscapes.
These differences, including patch size, shape complexity, and species composition, are attributable to human activity.
Identified landscape structural differences can form the basis for principles in old-growth forest restoration and biodiversity-enhancing forest management.