Mapping the abstractions of forest landscape patterns

Abstract

The evaluation of landscape patterns is necessary to explain the relationships between ecological processes and spatial patterns and between the processes and patterns and the factors that control them or that they control. For decades, landscape metrics have been used to measure and abstract landscape patterns. Since the emergence of FRAGSTATS in 1993, the measures and methods incorporated in this software have become widely used and are now a de facto standard tool for calculating landscape metrics. However, there are no special metrics unique to forest landscapes. The selection of metrics depends on the purpose of the study rather than on the land use or cover type. However, some metrics are more often used for forested landscapes (e.g., core area metrics). Forest landscape patterns are changing fast due to both natural and human disturbances. Remote sensing offers a rapid method of acquiring up-to-date information over a large geographical area and is therefore widely used as a source of the data needed for pattern assessment and the calculation of landscape metrics. However, to obtain meaningful results, correct preparation of the data is essential. In this chapter, we review the various metrics used to measure forest landscapes for different purposes. We deal with five main issues from the perspective of forest landscape patterns: (1) data preparation before the calculation of metrics (e.g., vector vs. raster data, scale, classification) and the associated uncertainties, (2) measurements of a landscape's configuration and composition using metrics, (3) interpretation of the results, (4) possible uses of the outcomes, and (5) future perspectives (e.g., 3D and 4D landscape metrics).