The adequacy of different landscape metrics for various landscape patterns

The behavior of several landscape pattern metrics were tested against various pattern scenarios generated by neutral landscape models, including number of classes, scale-map extent, scale-resolution, class proportion, aggregation level-RULE, and aggregation level-SimMap. The results demonstrate that most of the metrics are sensitive to certain pattern scenarios, yet are not sensitive to others; therefore, none of them is appropriate for all aspects of a landscape pattern. Despite these limitations, some of these metrics are recommended for future use, which include total number of patches, average patch size, total edge density, double-logged fractal, contagion, and aggregation index. Special attention should be paid to the relationships between metric values and ecological processes rather than the numbers themselves. (c) 2005 Pattern Recognition Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.