Landscape indices describing a Dutch landscape

The data set of a human modified Dutch landscape was used to evaluate whether landscape pattern indices developed in the United States are fit to describe a Dutch landscape. The grid based data set contains the development of land use over the period 1845–1982. The indices were divided in two groups: pattern indices and change indices. In the first group the proportion of each land use type (P), patch number (N), mean patch size (A) and two indices of patch shape (S1 and S2) were tested; in the second group the rate of change (C) was tested.Not all indices considered in this case study are suitable for the Dutch landscape. The dominance index (D) seems not to be sensitive enough to respond in a clear way to changes in the landscape studied. Shape index seems to be a complicated index, particularly in a human modified landscape like the Dutch, where the shape of natural patches is fixed by their man-made neighbours. The trends observed in the two shape indices considered in this study are not satisfactory since each index considers another aspects of shape (either the interior-to-edge ratio or the complexity of the patch perimeter).None of the indices appears to give information on changes in the geographical position of the patches, which implies that nothing can be induced with respect to the real landscape dynamics.The indices have to be considered in combination to produce meaningful information. The combination of proportion of each land use (P) and the data of the transitions shows how the development in land use has been. Number of patches (N) together with the mean size of patches (A) gives a good indication of the pattern development.Further research is necessary to develop a useful method how to quantify the change in landscape pattern and to give an ecological meaning to the index value in relation to the process of changing pattern.

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