A Changing World
Challenges for Landscape Research

Modern landscape research uses a panoply of techniques to further our understanding of our changing world, including mathematics, statistics and advanced simulation techniques to combine empirical observations with known theories. This book identifies emerging fields and new challenges that are discussed within the framework of the ‘driving forces’ of Landscape Development. the book addresses all of the ‘hot topics’ in this important area of study and emphasizes major contemporary trends in these fields.

Written primarily for researchers and advanced students in environmental and social sciences, this latest book in Springer’s Landscape Series looks at some of the emerging fields and new challenges in landscape research. These include:




the role of value systems in perceiving, appreciating, and managing landscapes



the ‘space’ and ‘place’ concept in landscape research



GIS and remote sensing techniques for gathering and processing spatially and temporally explicit land cover, vegetation, and land use data



methods of landscape history



landscape genetics and genetic methods to test landscape connectivity and dispersal of plant and animal species



palaeoclimatic research, with focus on tree ring based temperature reconstructions



landscape patterns, processes and model up-scaling



statistical methods for environmental time series and other observations


Drawing on the expertise of an interdisciplinary team, the book provides a valuable reference for researchers in landscape ecology, landscape perception, conservation biology, ecological modeling, statistics in the environmental sciences and related fields.

Foreword.- Preface.- 1. Change and transformation: a synthesis; F. Kienast et al.- Part 1: Value systems - Major drivers of landscape dynamics. 2. Value systems: drivers of human-landscape interactions; M. Buchecker et al.- 3. The role of value systems in biodiversity research; P. Duelli et al.- 4. The meaning of "Landscape" – an exegesis of Swiss government texts; P. Longatti, T. Dalang.- 5. Two aspects of the human-landscape relationship; M. Hunziker et al.- Part 2: Ecological observations and processes. 6. Modern remote sensing for environmental monitoring of landscape states and trajectories; N.E. Zimmermann et al.- 7. A large-scale, long-term view on collecting and sharing of landscape data; A. Lanz et al.- 8. On selected issues and challenges in dendroclimatology; J. Esper et al.- 9. Using the past to understand the present land use and land cover; M. Bürgi et al.- 10. Integrating population genetics with landscape ecology to infer spatio-temporal processes; R. Holderegger et al.- 11. Landscape permeability: from individual dispersal to population persistence; W. Suter et al.- Part 3: Spatial pattern recognition, time series analysis and dynamic modeling. 12. Identifying and quantifying landscape patterns in space and time; J. Bolliger et al.- 13. Essay on the study of the vegetation process; O. Wildi, L. Orlóci.- 14. Statistical analysis of landscape data: space-for-time, probability surfaces and discovering species; S. Ghosh, O. Wildi.- 15. Memory, non-stationarity and trend: analysis of environmental time series; S. Ghosh et al.- 16. Model up-scaling in landscape research; H. Lischke et al.- 17. Dynamic spatio-temporal landscape models; H. Lischke et al.-