Effects of thematic resolution on landscape pattern analysis

The thematic resolution of mapped data determines the amount of detail of geospatial information, and influences various aspects of landscape classification and the relevance of derived pattern attributes to particular ecological questions. Here we show that changing thematic resolution may significantly affect landscape metrics and in turn their ability to detect landscape changes. The effects of thematic resolution on many landscape metrics tend to show consistent general patterns, but the details of these patterns are likely to be dependent on specific landscape patterns and classification criteria. Thus, the effects of thematic resolution, like those with regard to grain and extent, must be considered in landscape pattern analysis.