Landscape ecology is concerned with revealing the importance of spatial patterning on the dynamics of interacting ecosystems. Interest in landscape studies has been fueled by many factors, the most important being the critical need to assess the impact of rapid, broad-scale changes in our environment.

As Monica Turner, one of the founders of modern landscape ecology, states on her web page:

Landscape ecology emphasizes the interaction between spatial pattern and ecological process -- that is, the causes and consequences of spatial heterogeneity across a range of scales. Two important aspects of landscape ecology distinguish it from other subdisciplines within ecology. First, landscape ecology explicitly addresses the importance of spatial configuration for ecological processes. Not only is landscape ecology concerned with how much there is of a particular component but also with how it is arranged. Second, landscape ecology often focuses upon spatial extents that are much larger than those traditionally studied in ecology. Landscape ecology offers new concepts, theory and methods that are revealing the importance of spatial patterning on the dynamics of interacting ecosystems.

To meet the needs of landscape ecologists (given the broad range of problems that they are interested in), different methodologies are required. In this course we are exploring one of those methodologies--the use of Fragstats in quantifying landscape pattern. Other methods that are commonly used by landscape ecologists (and others interested in looking at pattern on the landscape, such as archaeologists) include Markov models (a comprehensive text on Markov processes [36 page PDF]; landscape example:Niagara, ON.), a wide range of simulation modelling programs (e.g., Harvest [a harvest simulation program], examples from VALE, a spatially explicit model of loggerhead sea turtles, and of cougars), geostatistical techniques such as kriging (see, for example, ArcGIS's Geostatistical Analyst), and spatial statistics.

Discussions on patchiness and patches, scaling techniques (e.g., kriging, a health ex) are available, as well as on diversity metrics and contagion and interspersion metrics. A graphic to remind us that the patterns and processes observed come from three different domains.

Some interesting pages: measuring the impact of fragmentation of the urban landscape of Dublin, and the EPA has a page that highlights a variety of landscape ecology projects in the US.

Some supplemental notes I prepared summarizing some of the above methodologies. [1 to a page; 3 to a page]

References

ESRI's Spatial Statistics Resources.

de Smith, Goodchild and Longley's Geospatial Analysis 4th Edition online (A very comprehensive resource)

Franklin, J. Mapping species distributions. 2010. Cambridge University Press.

Gergel, S.E. and M.G. Turner (eds.). Learning landscape ecology: a practical guide to concepts and techniques. Springer-Verlag, New York. (Click to view web site dedicated to the text)

Malchow, Horst , Sergei V. Petrovskii and Ezio Venturino. 2008. Spatiotemporal patterns in ecology and epidemiology: Theory, models, and simulation. Chapman & Hall/CRC mathematical and computational biology series. (Amazon)

Ritters, K. H., R. V. O'Neill, C. T. Hunsaker, J. D. Wickham, D. H. Yankee, S. P. Timmins, K. B. Jones, and B. L. Jackson. 1995. A factor analysis of landscape pattern and structure metrics. Landscape Ecol. 10: 23-40.

Turner, M.G., R.H. Gardner, and R.V. O'Neill. Pattern and process: landscape ecology in theory and practice. Springer-Verlag, New York.

Plus, check out the links, etc. posted on the US-IALE home page (United States Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology).