Name: Ann Dominique S.

Cuisia Student Number: 2020-10518

Class & Subject: LARCH20-WFIJ Professor: Prof. Madonna Danao

Reaction Paper on Landscape Change and Disturbances

Any landscape experiences changes – either natural or anthropogenic that usually affect its
ecosystem may it be short-term or long-term. These disturbances, either manmade or natural, are any
specific event that disrupts the ecosystem or the community. In looking at these disturbances, time,
space, and scale have strong interactions with each other.
Natural disturbances are disruptions that occur naturally, without man’s control, that usually
occurs on a wide variety of spatial scale. In looking at the effects of these natural disturbances, there
must be a goal of what perspective to look at. It may be sub-organismal, organismal, population-scale,
or the whole ecosystem/landscape scale. Aside from looking at the disturbance from different
perspectives, we can also look at how it affects the area in various time scales – from a month and even
up to years after the disturbance occurred. These disturbances can also occur from time to time, in
such a pattern. These are called disturbance regimes where disturbances can be grouped according to
low severity, moderate severity, and high severity. Examples of natural disturbances are flood, storm
surge, earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami, forest fires, livestock influences, mass wasting, tsunami,
and a lot more. An example to demonstrate this is how storm surges can cause floods in a few hours
in a certain ecosystem or landscape that has a low elevation. Looking at it from the perspective of the
whole ecosystem, we know that the flood will affect the crops, vegetables, and plants in that ecosystem
– affecting the food of animal species and human beings, including their livelihood. Past after the
disturbance occurs, the area that has been subdued by the flood will take a longer time to recover. If
storm surges occur frequently resulting in frequent flooding as well, then that area would likely remain
to have younger species growing, only to be disturbed by a flood once again. While, on the other hand,
the same species in the higher elevation of the area continues to grow. Additionally, some of the species
may learn to adapt from the said disturbance, altering some of its quality. On the long-term scale, we
can conclude that there will be the presence of the same species of different ages and some varying
qualities because of the disturbance in the landscape. Also, seeds of the species can be dispersed
through flooding which then spreads its range. These natural factors contribute to how the landscape
changes over time. Another example of how natural disturbances change a landscape is how an
earthquake can immediately cause mass wasting in some areas right after the disturbance. Looking at
the ecosystem scale, this earthquake and mass wasting will affect both the land and the lives of the
living species. In the long run, we will be able to observe that a portion of a tectonic plate has moved
over time which was not prominent immediately after the earthquake happened. From these examples,
we can see that the effects of the natural disturbances can still affect the landscape after years have
passed.
Aside from the natural disturbances, there are anthropogenic disturbances that are caused by
human beings. Examples of these are deforestation, mining, invasive species introduction, dynamite
fishing, mining, pollution, and a lot more. Most of these disturbances were done because of human
needs such as livelihood, food, shelter, etc. Excessive disturbances like this though greatly affect the
landscape mostly in a negative way. Take for example the excessive mining at Bicol had caused an
effect on the spatial change of the place, resulting in more severe natural disturbances. Because of the
excessive mining and improper disposal of the materials used at the landscape, it has caused additional
heat on the volcano, a more fragile landmass, destruction of mountains that prevent severe flooding,
and a lot more. We can see this taking a toll on Bicol when Typhoon Rolly hits the place. Excessive
deforestation has also had its impact on the flooding and mass wasting in our landscape, making it
more severe and frequent. We are now harvesting the fruits of the excessive anthropogenic
disturbances we’ve caused.
Although these human activities are somehow essential for us to live on, it is important to
regulate and impose these activities in a way that it will not cause severe harm to our environment.
Knowing these landscape disturbances are important so humans can manage the land and its
resources more effectively, promoting biodiversity and preventing negative consequences. We must all
remember that, in the case of our environment, they can live without humans; but for humans, we can’t
live without the environment and its resources. It is important that in these disturbances, we strive for
ecological restoration, the re-establishment of the natural ecosystem features and services. As
landscape architects and environmental planners have the knowledge and the skill to plan for this, we
should be one of the pioneers in advocating to mitigate anthropogenic disturbances and become
strategic with natural disturbances since we can’t stop them from occurring. Through the passive
restoration, the community’s activity that causes anthropogenic disturbances must be regulated, or
even halted, in coordination with the community officials. It is important to take note though that halting
these activities will not be sustainable for the livelihood of the people. Instead, device an alternative or
eco-friendly livelihood with the community that will cause less damage. For example, instead of using
harmful fertilizers or pesticides, organic waste as fertilizers can be made more prominent in the field of
agriculture. Active restoration can also be designed by landscape architects and planners, although
there are more risks and steps needed to be successful in this aspect. The mentioned actions that a
landscape architect can do are more on the curing side of things. However, it is very important to bear
in mind that prevention is the best cure. It is best that in the first place, landscape architects will be
sensitive about these natural disturbances and be strategic about them. If a landscape is known to have
high frequency with storm surges and flooding, landscape architects must design the space that will not
add more problems to the effects of the disturbance. In my opinion, here in the Philippines, we still have
a long way to go about this. We are already aware of how severe flooding can be in our country, yet we
still confine to evacuation as our main response to this. The officials, together with the experts, must
prioritize a way to make us adaptive to these severe disturbances. Designing flood parks, water-resilient
parks, street rain gardens, or even adopting China’s sponge city theory, are all developments that
landscape architects can do and would be very helpful in adapting to these disturbances. We can be in
harmony with our landscape if only we know how to regulate and control.

Source: PublicResourceOrg. (2010). Understanding Landscape 13: Disturbance Ecology. https://

youtu.be/Cuj2MJV3VMM.