Quantifying pattern

It is important to quantify and describe landscape pattern well in order to conduct effective landscape studies. So it is important to have a good set of measures of landscapes and the features they contain. As a result, considerable amount of effort has gone into the development of the many measures available.

Many of these measures are consistent with what is known as 'patch theory'. This means that they are based on the identification of patch, matrix and corridor features. Most take the form of indices and try to reflect aspects of landscape pattern through the calculation of a number.

Because there is such a wide range of indices, the decision as to which index to use is quite difficult. The rule of thumb tends to be that the choice of index is determined by the question being addressed.