Coupling Landscape Patterns and Ecological Processes - Landscape Ecology for Sustainable Environment and Culture - page 14

severe erosion on the river banks (Le Maitre et al. 2007 ). The vegetation loss alters
the evapotranspiration pattern of the watershed, leading to a dry and extreme
micro-climate at watershed scale.
1.5 Perspectives on Landscape Pattern and Ecological
Process Coupling Research
Pattern, process, function, and scale are the core components of landscape ecology.
Although some progress has been made on the theories and methodology on these
issues, the research on the whole is far from mature. The multi-scale coupling
research on landscape patterns and ecological processes remains a big challenge
for landscape ecology research. Future breakthroughs may lie in the following
directions:
1.5.1 Developing Landscape Pattern Metrics that Reflect
Ecological Processes
Landscape pattern metrics play a crucial role in analyzing the spatial configuration
of landscapes. Along with the development of computer softwares, these metrics
have promoted landscape ecology research greatly. However, given the rapid
improvement of awareness and understanding of landscape ecology, the mere
description of landscape patterns can no longer meet the needs of academic and
applied pursuits. There is still much to be done to develop landscape pattern
indices with significant ecological implications or to tap the potential ecological
implications of existing pattern indices. Developing landscape pattern indices that
reflect ecological processes has much theoretical and practical significance for the
future of landscape ecology.
1.5.2 Exploring the Scale Dependence of the Relationships
Between Landscape Patterns and Ecological Processes
Landscape pattern and ecological processes vary constantly and interact at mul-
tiple scales. Due to the complexity and abstract nature of ecological processes,
most current studies are isolated and confined to small and medium scales; syn-
thesis studies at large scales or cross-scale research are very rare. It is necessary to
test the multi-scale relationships between landscape patterns and ecological pro-
cesses, to reveal the characteristics and tendencies of ecological processes through
scaling and spatial analysis.