This practical handbook bridges the gap between those scientists who study landscapes and the planners and conservationists who must then decide how best to preserve and build environmentally-sound habitats. Until now, only a small portion of the relevant science has influenced the decision-making arenas where the future of our landscapes is debated and decided.
The authors explain specific tools and concepts to measure a landscape's structure, form, and change over time. Metrics studied include patch richness, class area proportion, patch number and density, mean patch size, shape, radius of gyration, contagion, edge contrast, nearest neighbor distance, and proximity. These measures will help planners and conservationists make better land use decisions for the future.
"Lack of planning generally leads to unsuitable spaces, such as fishing spots that become polluted, building sites that flood, and wildlife reserves cutoff by busy highways. But a completely designed place seems sterile, controlled, boring. Measuring Landscapes reveals a rich array of insights and an important big-picture perspective. Planners and ecologists, and indeed all who think about changing the land, will be enriched by the exploration ahead."---Richard T. T. Forman, Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Harvard University, from his foreword "Measuring Landscapes: A Planner's Handbook is an important addition to the reference material, allowing practitioners to understand landscape ecology and its associated tools. This book introduces the concepts of landscape ecology, has a strong focus on how planning relates to these concepts, and is a real practical exploration of the tools of landscape metrics. Overall, the book is well written and provides the readers with key information on the concepts and practical issues in using landscape metrics. Measuring Landscapes is compact but still comprehensive. Its length makes it very suitable for a single term course in landscape ecology in a planning or natural resource program. Additionally, the book's length makes it very suitable for practitioners. I also recommend this book to all related fields (wildlife management, parks management, geography, geology, and forestry) that have an interest in researching, managing, conserving, and protecting healthy landscapes. Changing the way we view, measure, and think about these landscapes is an important step in making them sustainable."
