Landscape Metrics, Scales of Resolution

Effective implementation of the “multiple path” approach to managing green landscapes depends fundamentally on rigorous quantification of the composition and structure of the landscapes of concern at present, modelling landscape structure trajectories under alternative management paths, and monitoring landscape structure into the future to confirm whether management is having the expected effects on landscape structure. Indeed, quantification of current conditions, anticipation of future changes and monitoring these changes as they occur are the three foundational elements of adaptive management and the key foundation for the multiple path approach to landscape design. In this chapter we review five key components of landscape analysis. First, we discuss the importance of appropriate models of landscape structure. Second, we review the critical issue of scale and its enormous influences on landscape analysis. Third, we review the importance of evaluating the spatio-temporal context of the present landscape, and discuss several approaches to establishing it. Fourth, we define the meaning landscape metrics, review the major components of landscape pattern, and describe a number of the most useful landscape metrics for characterizing each component of landscape structure. Fifth, we discuss linking landscape analysis to simulation modelling to infer the expected effects of alternative management scenarios using landscape trajectory analysis. The topics in this chapter are adapted from much more complete treatment in McGarigal et al. (in press) and Cushman and McGarigal (2006).