Thesis (Ph.D.)--Aberdeen University, 2009. / Title from web page (viewed on Jan. 18, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1979. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 383-389).

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on November 18, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Hong S. He. Includes bibliographical references.

The protection and enhancement of visual resources constitute an on-going challenge to the planning authorities in many communities. The crux of this challenge is to guide development towards built and natural landscape forms that will not cause detriment to an existing landscape character. To understand and cope with this problem, there is the need for a means to define and model a landscape's character, to identify methods for constructing that character definition, to create tools for storing and using such a definition to visualize its spatial manifestations, and to incorporate alternative development regulatory parameters in order to assess their impact on landscape character. Current spatial data technologies are able to portray inventories of specific, real-world objects. While well established in the planning profession, these technologies and their attendant data manipulation tools do not easily facilitate the creation of generalized, non-specific statements that are applicable across a region. Such generalized statements regarding visual and spatial features are at the heart of descriptions of landscape character and implicit within most planning regulations intended to produce a desirable landscape character. Current spatial data tools therefore do not satisfy the stated needs of planning for landscape character. In satisfying these conceptual, methodological and technological deficiencies, the research presented in this dissertation defines and demonstrates a theory of landscape grammar which formally draws parallels between the structures of linguistics and the character of landscapes. A landscape grammar defines a landscape character using a spatial vocabulary and syntax rules and can be applied to a site to generate landscape forms that embody the defined character. In this dissertation, the spatial counterparts of the linguistic concepts of vocabulary and grammar rules are formalized and implemented for use in a custom-developed geographic information system. Methods that enable the use of landscape grammars in a planning environment are presented and subsequently applied through the formal expression of planning regulations into the grammar-based model. The theory, methods and software implementation are demonstrated using a residential area of the island of Bermuda. The iterative grammatical generation of an example two-dimensional landscape scene is demonstrated with further three-dimensional representations of the results for visualization purposes. Alternative planning regulations are also incorporated into the case study grammar and resultant three-dimensional landscapes are shown. Several suggestions for future research on landscape grammars are offered in the conclusions of the dissertation.

The protection and enhancement of visual resources constitute an on-going challenge to the planning authorities in many communities. The crux of this challenge is to guide development towards built and natural landscape forms that will not cause detriment to an existing landscape character. To understand and cope with this problem, there is the need for a means to define and model a landscape's character, to identify methods for constructing that character definition, to create tools for storing and using such a definition to visualize its spatial manifestations, and to incorporate alternative development regulatory parameters in order to assess their impact on landscape character. Current spatial data technologies are able to portray inventories of specific, real-world objects. While well established in the planning profession, these technologies and their attendant data manipulation tools do not easily facilitate the creation of generalized, non-specific statements that are applicable across a region. Such generalized statements regarding visual and spatial features are at the heart of descriptions of landscape character and implicit within most planning regulations intended to produce a desirable landscape character. Current spatial data tools therefore do not satisfy the stated needs of planning for landscape character. In satisfying these conceptual, methodological and technological deficiencies, the research presented in this dissertation defines and demonstrates a theory of landscape grammar which formally draws parallels between the structures of linguistics and the character of landscapes. A landscape grammar defines a landscape character using a spatial vocabulary and syntax rules and can be applied to a site to generate landscape forms that embody the defined character. In this dissertation, the spatial counterparts of the linguistic concepts of vocabulary and grammar rules are formalized and implemented for use in a custom-developed geographic information system. Methods that enable the use of landscape grammars in a planning environment are presented and subsequently applied through the formal expression of planning regulations into the grammar-based model. The theory, methods and software implementation are demonstrated using a residential area of the island of Bermuda. The iterative grammatical generation of an example two-dimensional landscape scene is demonstrated with further three-dimensional representations of the results for visualization purposes. Alternative planning regulations are also incorporated into the case study grammar and resultant three-dimensional landscapes are shown. Several suggestions for future research on landscape grammars are offered in the conclusions of the dissertation.

Assessments of landscape connectivity are increasingly required in natural resource management. Understanding how landscape structure affects the movement and dispersal of animals may be essential for ensuring the long-term persistence of species of conservation concern. Functional connectivity models describing how features on the landscape influence animal movement behaviour have been produced in two different ways. The resistance surface models landscape connectivity as its inverse, the resistance to movement and dispersal, while the landscape graph represents landscape connectivity by describing the relationships among resource patches. Both methods have limitations that make them less effective for modelling highly-mobile and wide-ranging species such as ungulates and carnivores. This thesis develops a method called grains of connectivity that combines the continuous representation of landscape connectivity provided by resistance surfaces and the scalability provided by landscape graphs to create a flexible modelling framework for these species. The first half of the thesis reviews the conceptual origins of the grains of connectivity method and examines its properties using simulated landscapes. In the second half, empirical evidence of movement and dispersal in a boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) population is used to validate functional connectivity hypotheses generated using the method. Connectivity for caribou at the temporal scale of generations is examined using a landscape genetics approach, while connectivity at the seasonal scale is assessed using the distribution of caribou telemetry locations. Grains of connectivity may be most useful for study systems where animals are not found exclusively in well-defined resource patches and there is uncertainty in the behavioural parameters influencing movement and dispersal. Additionally, the scalability of the analysis can be used to selectively remove spatial heterogeneity that may be uncorrelated with movement and dispersal giving an improved description of the pattern affecting the landscape connectivity process.

Assessments of landscape connectivity are increasingly required in natural resource management. Understanding how landscape structure affects the movement and dispersal of animals may be essential for ensuring the long-term persistence of species of conservation concern. Functional connectivity models describing how features on the landscape influence animal movement behaviour have been produced in two different ways. The resistance surface models landscape connectivity as its inverse, the resistance to movement and dispersal, while the landscape graph represents landscape connectivity by describing the relationships among resource patches. Both methods have limitations that make them less effective for modelling highly-mobile and wide-ranging species such as ungulates and carnivores. This thesis develops a method called grains of connectivity that combines the continuous representation of landscape connectivity provided by resistance surfaces and the scalability provided by landscape graphs to create a flexible modelling framework for these species. The first half of the thesis reviews the conceptual origins of the grains of connectivity method and examines its properties using simulated landscapes. In the second half, empirical evidence of movement and dispersal in a boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) population is used to validate functional connectivity hypotheses generated using the method. Connectivity for caribou at the temporal scale of generations is examined using a landscape genetics approach, while connectivity at the seasonal scale is assessed using the distribution of caribou telemetry locations. Grains of connectivity may be most useful for study systems where animals are not found exclusively in well-defined resource patches and there is uncertainty in the behavioural parameters influencing movement and dispersal. Additionally, the scalability of the analysis can be used to selectively remove spatial heterogeneity that may be uncorrelated with movement and dispersal giving an improved description of the pattern affecting the landscape connectivity process.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Geographical and Environmental Studies, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M. LA)--Unitec New Zealand, 2008. / Dissertation statement from P. 6. Includes bibliographical references (p. [131-133]).