Anthropogenic stressors come in many forms, from regional patterns of acid deposition or climate-induced ecosystem change, to local-scale patterns in agricultural drainage ditches and tiles, point-source pollution, land-conversion, and transportation corridors, among others. To be effective, a landscape condition model needs to incorporate multiple stressors, their varying individual intensities, the combined and cumulative effect of those stressors, and if possible, some measure of distance away from each stressor where negative effects remain likely. Since our knowledge of natural ecosystems is varied and often limited, a primary challenge is to identify those stressors that likely have the most degrading effects on ecosystems or [...]
