Effect of scale on landscape indices

The scale of analysis is crucial to the results of measures of landscape structure.

Benson and MacKenzie (1995) looked at the effects of changing spatial resolution on some landscape indices eg number of patches, patch perimeter, fractal dimension and texture measures such as homogeneity, entropy and contrast. They found most indices were sensitive to spatial resolution, but texture measures were the least sensitive.

Turner et al (1989) also showed that the scale at which landscape pattern is quantified would affect the results of analysis.

Reading 1.7 by Turner on 'Landscape ecology: The effect of pattern on process.'