From the Back Cover
The research category of the landscape ecology, which researches the structure, functions, and the spatio-temporal changes of the ecological landscapes, has now been contributing to the human life and the shifts of the socio-economic paradigm. Global warming has been influencing the universal life patterns of the mankind which have been maintained in the past several hundreds of years. And it has been having the influences on the international social problems and economic problems. Although the diverse plans for adapting to the climate changes have been the topics of the conservations among the ecologists internationally, it is the reality that the speed of the changes of the environment has been quicker than the time it takes to complete the solutions. In order to maintain the sustainable earth and the sustainable society, the role of the landscape ecology has been coming to the fore. Especially, the theories and the methodologies of the landscape ecology have been applied to the multidisciplinary researches by going beyond the research category of ecology, including the maximization of the efficiencies of the land spaces, the management of the ecological space (habitats) in which the biological diversity can be maintained, the utilization of the resources that are absolutely needed by the human beings (Here, it is compressed to water, energy, and food), etc. and until reaching the human society. It is considered that, to that extent, the utilizations and the applications of the landscape ecology are very much needed for the diagnoses and the evaluations of the global environmental problems which have been proceeded with rapidly in the modernity.
This book is not comprised of any general remarks that explain the theories and the methods of the landscape ecology. Already, based on the basic theories of the landscape ecology, the writers have conducted the investigations on the farm villages, the cities, and the coastal ecosystems. And, through the space analyses and interpretations, the structure and functions of the landscapes were analyzed. Of course, in this book, too, the diverse ecosystems and the landscape ecological methodologies regarding the land use have been presented. However, the core of this book focuses more on what role the landscape ecology must play for the materialization of a sustainable society in the future. At the farm villages, the sustainable agriculture will be presented, and, at the cities, the discussions on the green networks and the energies will be proceeded with. Also, regarding the coasts and the seas, a thesis on the safety of the life zones of the residents adjacent to the sea and on the conservation of the island ecosystems will be presented. The sustainable society is a system that is formed by having the sustainable development as a basis. It is considered to be one aspect within a kind of a sustainable process with regard to which the natural world and the human world coexist and are in a symbiotic relationship harmoniously. In order to maintain the biodiversity, the reasonable adjustments of the human activities, like the use of the resources, are absolutely needed. Without the biological resources, the cultural diversity of the human beings, too, cannot exist. Consequentially, recently and internationally, there are a lot of the case examples that express the biocultural diversity by linking the biological diversity with the cultural diversity. In this book, the role of the landscape ecology as an academic link which can connect the two possible, if possible, is highly expected. It is, indeed, the biocultural landscape. It can be said that this concept, also, is the interconnection of the multidisciplinary spaces that must be dealt with in the modern landscape ecology. Through this book, it is intended to present a new directionality which can contribute to the sustainable society at the same time as the organization of the theories and the methods of the landscape ecology.
Sun-Kee Hong (Mokpo, Republic of Korea) is currently Humanities Korea Professor of the the Institution for Marine and Island Cultures (MIC) of Mokpo National University. He obtained a master degree in Plant Ecology at Chungnam National University (1985). He obtained a Ph.D. degree in Landscape Ecology and Environmental Planning at Hiroshima University (Japan) in 1994; his thesis dealt with vegetation ecology and human impact in Asian cultural landscapes. He has organized 20 international symposia on global issues, landscape ecology and biocultural diversity relating "islandscapes" and urban-rural landscapes issues during IUCN, IALE, INTECOL and EAFES. He published international books of Ecological Issues in a Changing World (Kluwer, 2004), Landscape Ecological Applications in Man-influenced Areas: Linking Man and Nature Systems (Springer, 2007), Landscape Ecology in Asian Cultures (Springer-Tokyo, 2011), Biocultural Landscapes (Springer, 2014) and 70 papers. He was secretary general of the 8th INTECOL (2002, Seoul) and the chairperson of the local organizing committee of the 55th IAVS conference (2012, Mokpo). He is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Marine and Island Cultures. He is a board member of INTECOL (including Editor of the INTECOL e-Bulletin). He is the Director of the Center for Island Sustainability (CIS) at Mokpo National University.
Nobukazu Nakagoshi (Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan) is Professor Emeritus of Hiroshima University (HU) and lecturing at Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, HU as a Special Appointed Professor from 2017. He is Invited Professors of Ecology at Capital Normal University, Beijing from 2004 and Inner Mongolia University, Huhhot, China from 2008. He obtained a master degree in Plant Ecology at HU (1976) and a degree Doctor of Science (Botany) in Plant Ecology at HU (1979): his thesis dealt with soil seed banks in temperate forests. He has organized scores international symposia on community, conservation and landscape ecologies during INTECOL, IAVS, IALE, ICB, ICLEE, URBIO, ESJ, Eco-summit and EAFES. He published international books Coniferous Forest Ecology, from an International Perspectives (SPB Academic Publishing bv, 1991) with Frank B. Golley, Designing Low Carbon Societies in Landscapes (Springer, 2014) with Jhonamie A. Mabuhay and 298 papers. He was President of Japan Association for Landscape Ecology (2000-2007) and a Vice President of IALE (2003-2007). His current scientific interests are eco-tourism in natural landscapes, sustainable managements of cultural landscapes, and green infrastructures associated with resilience in urban landscapes.
