Modelling and Simulation of Agricultural Landscapes

Abstract

An agricultural landscape is a section of a region shaped by its natural landscape features primarily involving agricultural land use and land management. Intensive anthropogenic activities have left a permanent mark on agricultural landscapes , which have been developed over hundreds of years. Agricultural landscapes constitute a spatiotemporal structure. Hence they represent a complex system in which a large number of processes occur continuously that, due to their temporal dynamics, lead to constant changes in the state of the system. Traditional experiments are inappropriate for the impact assessment of anthropogenic and naturally occurring changes in agricultural landscapes. The only option here is to conduct virtual landscape experiments at the computer level. To this end, a relevant set of spatial, quantifiable landscape indicators is defined that can be used to map the landscape on the computer. Building on the extensive expertise in agricultural landscape research, indicators can be mapped using validated and robust models and their