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About structure

In this unit we usually refer to structure, but in other sources you will find that pattern is used to refer to the same thing.

There are two levels of landscape structure:

• landscape components, the units within a landscape that are determined by the physical or natural environment
  and
  
• landscape elements, the units within a landscape that are determined by human influences (Ruzicka et al., 1978)
  

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Why look at structure

We need to consider landscape structure so we can:

• understand the three elements of structure (patches, matrix and corridors) and the way they form patterns in the landscape
  
• be able to quantify those elements (indices, scale of analysis)
  

The configuration and spatial distribution of landscape features influences human and other animal use of the land, so it is important to use landscape ecological concepts and GIS technology for environmental management.

If the spatial arrangement of landscape features are not considered when setting up a GIS to solve an environmental problem of an inappropriate model could be developed.

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