Landscape patterns and agriculture: modelling the long-term effects of human practices on Pinus sylvestris spatial dynamics (Causse Mejean, France)

This paper focuses on understanding human impact on landscape. Both ecological and human practices are analysed as interacting processes. An agent-based model integrating biological and historical knowledge is used to analyse the pattern of Scots Pine encroachment in a French Mediterranean upland. In the STIPA model, pine trees are autonomous agents and a cellular automaton simulates land-use. We test the effects of shifting cultivation on tree establishment at the landscape scale. This allows us to understand how agropastoral practices patterned this area from the 17th to 19th century: simulations show the importance of shifting cultivation in limiting woodland progression. Fallow duration linked to environmental heterogeneity is a significant factor for explaining pine dynamics and landscape patterning at the scale of the study region. We put this result in perspective with current rangeland management policies that often consider grazing as the most relevant tool for open landscape maintenance. Our results also show the importance of taking into account time-scale effects when linking landscape patterns to agricultural systems.     

Targeting and evaluating biodiversity conservation action within fragmented landscapes: an approach based on generic focal species and least-cost networks

The focus of biodiversity conservation is shifting to larger spatial scales in response to habitat fragmentation and the need to integrate multiple landscape objectives. Conservation strategies increasingly incorporate measures to combat fragmentation such as ecological networks. These are often based on assessment of landscape structure but such approaches fail to capitalise on the potential offered by more ecologically robust assessments of landscape function and connectivity. In this paper, we describe a modelling approach to identifying functional habitat networks and demonstrate its application to a fragmented landscape where policy initiatives seek to improve conditions for woodland biodiversity including increasing woodland cover. Functional habitat networks were defined by identifying suitable habitat and by modelling connectivity using least-cost approaches to account for matrix permeability. Generic focal species (GFS) profiles were developed, in consultation with stakeholders, to represent species with high and moderate sensitivity to fragmentation. We demonstrated how this form of analysis can be used to aid the spatial targeting of conservation actions. This ‘targeted’ action scenario was tested for effectiveness against comparable scenarios, which were based on random and clumped actions within the same landscape. We tested effectiveness using structural metrics, network-based metrics and a published functional connectivity indicator. Targeting actions within networks resulted in the highest mean woodland area and highest connectivity indicator value. Our approach provides an assessment of landscape function by recognising the importance of the landscape matrix. It provides a framework for the targeting and evaluation of alternative conservation options, offering a pragmatic, ecologically-robust solution to a current need in applied landscape ecology.     

Perceived personal safety in relation to urban woodland vegetation – A review

Urban woodland vegetation provides people with many aesthetic, ecological and psychological benefits, but can also generate problems concerning people's perception of safety. This paper reviews existing knowledge about perceived personal safety in relation to vegetation, particularly woodland vegetation, in urban green spaces such as parks and residential areas. Individual and social factors, but also vegetation character, maintenance and design, proved to be important for perceived personal safety. Vegetation-related aspects identified as being of particular importance include landscape design, possibilities for overview and control, vegetation density, and vegetation character and maintenance. Vegetation of an open character with low density undergrowth might have positive effects on perceived personal safety without reducing other benefits. Issues for future research include context-based studies to consider several aspects of vegetation and their interactions.     

Landscape composition influences roe deer habitat selection at both home range and landscape scales

Understanding how patterns of habitat selection vary in relation to landscape structure is essential to predict ecological responses of species to global change and inform management. We investigated behavioural plasticity in habitat selection of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in relation to variable habitat availability across a heterogeneous agricultural landscape at the home range and landscape scales. As expected, woodland was heavily selected, but we found no functional response for this habitat, i.e. no shift in habitat selection with changing habitat availability, possibly due to the presence of hedgerows which were increasingly selected as woodlands were less abundant. Hedgerows may thus function as a substitutable habitat for woodlands by providing roe deer with similar resources. We observed a functional response in the use of hedgerows, implying some degree of landscape complementation between hedgerows and open habitats, which may in part compensate for lower woodland availability. We also expected selection for woodland to be highest at the wider spatial scale, especially when this habitat was limiting. However, our results did not support this hypothesis, but rather indicated a marked influence of habitat composition, as both the availability and distribution of resources conditioned habitat selection. There was no marked between-sex difference in the pattern of habitat selection at either scale or between seasons at the landscape scale, however, within the home range, selection did differ between seasons. We conclude that landscape structure has a marked impact on roe deer habitat selection in agricultural landscapes through processes such as landscape complementation and supplementation.     

Landscape services as a bridge between landscape ecology and sustainable development

Landscape ecology is in a position to become the scientific basis for sustainable landscape development. When spatial planning policy is decentralised, local actors need to collaborate to decide on the changes that have to be made in the landscape to better accommodate their perceptions of value. This paper addresses two prerequisites that landscape ecological science has to meet for it to be effective in producing appropriate knowledge for such bottom-up landscape-development processes—it must include a valuation component, and it must be suitable for use in collaborative decision-making on a local scale. We argue that landscape ecological research needs to focus more on these issues and propose the concept of landscape services as a unifying common ground where scientists from various disciplines are encouraged to cooperate in producing a common knowledge base that can be integrated into multifunctional, actor-led landscape development. We elaborate this concept into a knowledge framework, the structure–function–value chain, and expand the current pattern–process paradigm in landscape ecology with value in this way. Subsequently, we analyse how the framework could be applied and facilitate interdisciplinary research that is applicable in transdisciplinary landscape-development processes.     

Incidence of competitors and landscape structure as predictors of woodland-dependent birds

Globally, modification of landscapes for agriculture has had a strong influence on the distribution and abundance of biota. In particular, woodland-dependent birds are under threat across agricultural landscapes in Britain, North America and Australia, with their decline and extirpation attributed to the loss and fragmentation of habitat. Other native species have become over-abundant in response to anthropogenic landscape change and have strong interactive effects on avian assemblage structure. In eastern Australia, the hyper-aggressive noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala) often dominates woodlands in agricultural landscapes through interspecific competition, resulting in declines of species richness of woodland-dependent birds. We aimed to determine the relative influence and importance of interspecific competition, in situ habitat structure and landscape structure for woodland-dependent bird species at the landscape level. We recorded species-specific landscape incidence of woodland-dependent birds in 24 agricultural-woodland mosaics (25 km²) in southern Queensland, Australia. We selected extensively cleared landscapes (10–23 % woodland cover) where fragmentation effects are expected to be greatest. We applied generalised linear models and hierarchical partitioning to quantify the relative importance of the landscape-level incidence of the noisy miner, mistletoe abundance, shrub cover, woodland extent, woodland subdivision and land-use intensity for the incidence of 46 species of woodland birds at the landscape-scale. The landscape-level incidence of the noisy miner was the most important explanatory variable across the assemblage. Both in situ habitat structure and landscape structure were of secondary importance to interspecific aggression, although previous research suggests that the increasing incidence of the noisy miner in fragmented agricultural landscapes is itself a consequence of anthropogenic changes to landscape structure. Species’ responses to fragmentation varied from positive to negative, but complex habitat structure had a consistently positive effect, suggesting in situ restoration of degraded habitats could be a conservation priority. Landscape wide conservation of woodland-dependent bird populations in agricultural landscapes may be more effective if direct management of noisy miner populations is employed, given the strong negative influence of this species on the incidence of woodland-dependent birds among landscapes.     

Design in science: extending the landscape ecology paradigm

Landscape ecological science has produced knowledge about the relationship between landscape pattern and landscape processes, but it has been less effective in transferring this knowledge to society. We argue that design is a common ground for scientists and practitioners to bring scientific knowledge into decision making about landscape change, and we therefore propose that the pattern–process paradigm should be extended to include a third part: design. In this context, we define design as any intentional change of landscape pattern for the purpose of sustainably providing ecosystem services while recognizably meeting societal needs and respecting societal values. We see both the activity of design and the resulting design pattern as opportunities for science: as a research method and as topic of research. To place design within landscape ecology science, we develop an analytic framework based on the concept of knowledge innovation, and we apply the framework to two cases in which design has been used as part of science. In these cases, design elicited innovation in society and in science: the design concept was incorporated in societal action to improve landscape function, and it also initiated scientific questions about pattern–process relations. We conclude that landscape design created collaboratively by scientists and practitioners in many disciplines improves the impact of landscape science in society and enhances the saliency and legitimacy of landscape ecological scientific knowledge.     

The influence of habitat availability and landscape structure on the distribution of wood cricket (Nemobius sylvestris) on the Isle of Wight, UK

Little information is available regarding the landscape ecology of woodland invertebrate species with limited dispersal ability. An investigation was therefore conducted within woodland fragments in an agricultural landscape for the flightless wood cricket (Nemobius sylvestris) on the Isle of Wight, UK. The current pattern of distribution of the species, established during a field survey, was related to measures of habitat availability and habitat isolation/fragmentation. Results revealed that wood cricket populations were patchily distributed and mainly found in relatively large mature woodland fragments situated closely (<50 m) to another occupied site. Although the occurrence of wood cricket was related to fragment area, isolation, habitat availability and woodland age, a logistic regression model revealed that presence of the species was most accurately predicted by fragment isolation and area alone. These results highlight the vulnerability of relatively immobile woodland invertebrate species, such as wood cricket, to the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation.     

Neighbourhood landscape effect on population kinetics of the fossorial water vole (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Arvicola terrestris scherman</Emphasis>)

This paper addresses the issue of whether landscape structure affects A. terrestris population kinetics on a neighbourhood spatial scale, and if so, at what spatial scale is that effect at its maximum. We investigated how the growth of A. terrestris populations is influenced by the landscape context of parcels used for hay production in the French Jura Mountains. Five landscape metrics (relative area of grassland, mean patch area of grassland, patch density of grassland, woodland patch density in grassland, grassland–woodland edge density) were computed over an increasing radius around each parcel (max. 3 km). Redundancy analysis showed that the extent, rate and early onset of A. terrestris population growth were favoured in open grassland areas. Landscape effects on A. terrestris populations as determined by the five metrics are scale-dependent: mean patch area of grassland, patch density of grassland and woodland patch density in grassland had an impact on a grassland parcel within a neighbourhood radius of about 800 m, while relative area of grassland and grassland–woodland edge density had an impact within a neighbourhood radius of about 400 m. Those findings corroborate earlier hypotheses about a multifactorial regulation of A. terrestris populations and a spatial hierarchy of regulating factors. They have potential implications in terms of landscape management and small mammal pest control.     

The urbanization of wildlife management: Social science, conflict, and decision making

Increasing urbanization of rural landscapes has created new challenges for wildlife management. In addition to changes in the physical landscape, urbanization has also produced changes in the socio-cultural landscape. The greater distancing from direct interaction with wildlife in urbanized societies has led to the emergence of a culture whose meanings for wildlife are less grounded in the utilitarian/instrumental orientation of rural agrarian systems. Urban perspectives on wildlife are comprised of more highly individualized emotional/symbolic values. This shift creates two problems with respect to managing wildlife in an urbanizing landscape. First the increased diversity in values and meanings increases the likelihood for social conflicts regarding wildlife management while at the same time making socially acceptable resolutions more intractable. This in turn requires fundamental changes in decision-making paradigms and the research approaches used to inform decision making. Second, as remaining rural communities feel the pressures of urbanization, wildlife conflicts become conflicts not just over wildlife but conflict over larger socio-political concepts such as equity, tradition, private property rights, government control, power, and acceptable forms of knowledge. This paper examines the wildlife management implications of changes associated with increasing urbanization and employs two case studies to illustrate these issues. First a study of a controversy over urban deer management provides insights into how to map conflicting values and search for common ground in an urban culture with increasingly individualistic values for wildlife. Specifically, the analysis illustrates that common ground may, at times, be found even among people with conflicting value systems. The second case study examined a ranching community faced with predator reintroduction. This case study illustrates tensions that occur when the community of interest (i.e. a national public) is broader than the community of place in which the problem occurs. In this latter situation, the debate centers around more than just different views about the rights of animals. It also entailed the rights of individuals and communities to decide their future. The conclusion discusses the need for wildlife institutions to adapt their underlying decision making philosophy including the way science is integrated into decision making processes in light of the changes in social context caused by urbanization.     

Investigating design and provision of access facilities as a barrier to woodland use

A key policy objective of many European Governments and their forestry departments is socially inclusive use of woodlands as use is a pre-requisite to enjoying many of the benefits afforded by woodland. However, access to woodlands is unequally distributed across British society and research suggests disconnect between the facilities provided and their suitability-for-use, given the wide range of reasons for visiting woodland. This research sought to inform woodland management and complement research into barriers to accessing woodland by investigating whether the design and provision of core access facilities may preclude certain user-groups. The research was carried out on the public forest estate of England; although the results are applicable to any woodland where public access is encouraged. The generic findings are applicable also to other greenspace types. Preferences in design were strongly influenced by the instrumentality (functionality) and aesthetic of an item – whether it was in-keeping with the woodland setting. Facility provision and upkeep are also important to woodland users. The study suggests that small changes in facility provision, including greater emphasis on naturalistic and rustic designs, provision of a range of pathway surface types and reducing the urbanisation of woodland, could increase the appeal of woodland to a wider demographic. Woodlands can fulfil a wide range of social functions. Where this is desirable, the woodland (new or existing) should be appropriately designed to reflect these intended roles and functions. This will require a range of facilities sympathetically provided.     

Modeling fire and landform influences on the distribution of old-growth pinyon-juniper woodland

Expansion of Pinus and Juniperus species into shrub steppe in semi-arid regions of the western United States has been widely documented and attributed in part to fire exclusion. If decreased fire frequency has been an important cause of woodland expansion, one would expect to find age structures dominated by younger trees on more fire-prone sites, with old-growth pinyon-juniper woodland limited to sites with lower fire risk. We compared current old-growth distribution with spatial models for fire risk in a 19-km² watershed in central Nevada, USA. Multiple GIS models were developed to represent fire susceptibility, according to abiotic factors representing fuels and topographic barriers to fire spread. We also developed cellular automata models to generate fire susceptibility surfaces that additionally account for neighborhood effects. Rule-based GIS models failed to predict old-growth distribution better than random models. Cellular automata models incorporating spatial heterogeneity of site productivity predicted old-growth distribution better than random models but with low accuracy, ranging from 58% agreement at the single-pixel (0.09-ha) scale to 80% agreement for 20-pixel neighborhoods. The best statistical model for predicting old-growth occurrence included the negative effect of topographic convergence index (local wetness), and the positive effects of solar insolation and proximity to rock outcrops. Results support the hypothesis that old-growth woodlands in the Great Basin are more likely to occur on sites with low fire risk. However, weak relationships suggest that old-growth woodlands have not been confined to fire-safe sites. Conservation efforts should consider the landscape context of old-growth woodlands across a broad landscape, with an emphasis on conserving landscape variability in tree age structure.     

Spatial resilience: integrating landscape ecology,resilience, and sustainability

Landscape ecology has a high potential to contribute to sustainability in the interactions of people and nature. Landscape ecologists have already made considerable progress towards a more general understanding of the relevance of spatial variation for ecosystems. Incorporating the complexities of societies and economies into landscape ecology analyses will, however, require a broader framework for thinking about spatial elements of complexity. An exciting recent development is to explicitly try to integrate landscape ecology and ideas about resilience in social–ecological systems through the concept of spatial resilience. Spatial resilience focuses on the importance of location, connectivity, and context for resilience, based on the idea that spatial variation in patterns and processes at different scales both impacts and is impacted by local system resilience. I first introduce and define the concepts of resilience and spatial resilience and then discuss some of their potential contributions to the further interdisciplinary integration of landscape ecology, complexity theory, and sustainability science. Complexity theorists have argued that many complex phenomena, such as symmetry-breaking and selection, share common underlying mechanisms regardless of system type (physical, social, ecological, or economic). Similarities in the consequences of social exclusion and habitat fragmentation provide an informative example. There are many strong parallels between pattern–process interactions in social and ecological systems, respectively, and a number of general spatial principles and mechanisms are emerging that have relevance across many different kinds of system. Landscape ecologists, with their background in spatially explicit pattern–process analysis, are well placed to contribute to this emerging research agenda.     

The Eco-field Hypothesis: Toward a Cognitive Landscape

Cognition is recognized as an essential component of the living strategies of organisms and the use of cognitive approaches based on an organismic-centered-view is discussed as a strategy to aid the advancement of landscape ecology to a more independent scientific discipline. The incorporation of the theory of information, the theory of meaning and the Umwelt, and the biosemiotic models into the landscape ecology framework is described as the necessary step to create a common paradigmatic background and operational tools to develop basis for a cognitive landscape ecology. Three cognitive landscapes (neutrality-based landscape, individual-based landscape and observer-based landscape) have been described as the result of distinctive mechanisms to extract information from a cognitive matrix based on a growing literature of (bio)semiotic exchange. The eco-field hypothesis is presented as a new possibility to describe landscape processes according to an organismic-centered-view. The eco-field is defined as a spatial configuration carrier of a specific meaning perceived when a specific living function is activated. A species-specific cognitive landscape is composed of all the spatial configurations involved for all the living functions for a particular organism. Eco-field hypothesis offers a detailed vision of (habitat) environmental requirements and creates a novel conceptual bridge between niche, habitat, Umwelt and the methodological approaches of spatial ecology. Finally the eco-field hypothesis promises a new testing ground for experimental investigations in landscape ecology and in related disciplines including environmental psychology, cognitive ethology, cultural ecology, landscape aesthetics, design and planning.     

Integrating social and ecological knowledge for planning sustainable land- and sea-scapes: experiences from the Great Barrier Reef region,Australia

The integration of social and ecological knowledge has been identified as one of the key issues and research priorities in landscape ecology. However, research into the tools and processes that support knowledge integration for planning sustainable land- and sea-scapes is largely lacking. To fill this gap, Bohnet and Smith (Landsc Urban Plan 80:137–152, 2007) developed a social-ecological planning framework based on a holistic landscape concept which I applied in the Tully–Murray basin to test the framework’s transferability and effectiveness for knowledge integration in a water quality improvement planning context in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region, Australia. In this paper I present the context in which the Tully Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP) was developed, the tools and processes applied during the three planning stages to achieve knowledge integration, and the results from this exercise. I then discuss the transferability and effectiveness of the framework using criteria identified to assess collaborative planning processes, outputs and outcomes, such as collaborative science and social and political capital. While many social outcomes such as the creation of partnerships between multiple-stakeholders, including Traditional Owners, local farmers, industry, government, community groups, schools, and the wider public, have been achieved, the research also highlights some of the challenges related to multiple-stakeholder relations. Further research into the roles and responsibilities of multiple-stakeholders for knowledge integration in developing and managing sustainable land- and sea-scapes is recommended.     

Interaction of food resources and landscape structure in determining the probability of patch use by carnivores in fragmented landscapes

Studies on the distribution of mammalian carnivores in fragmented landscapes have focused mainly on structural aspects such as patch and landscape features; similarly, habitat connectivity is usually associated with landscape structure. The influence of food resources on carnivore patch use and the important effect on habitat connectivity have been overlooked. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relative importance of food resources on patch use patterns and to test if food availability can overcome structural constraints on patch use. We carried out a patch-use survey of two carnivores: the beech marten (Martes foina) and the badger (Meles meles) in a sample of 39 woodland patches in a fragmented landscape in central Italy. We used the logistic model to investigate the relative effects on carnivore distribution of patch, patch neighbourhood and landscape scale variables as well as the relative abundance of food resources. Our results show how carnivore movements in fragmented landscapes are determined not only by patch/landscape structure but also by the relative abundance of food resources. The important take-home message of our research is that, within certain structural limits (e.g. within certain limits of patch isolation), by modifying the relative amount of resources and their distribution, it is possible to increase suitability in smaller/relatively isolated patches. Conversely, however, there are certain thresholds above which an increase in resources will not achieve high probability of presence. Our findings have important and generalizable consequences for highly fragmented landscapes in areas where it may not be possible to increase patch sizes and/or reduce isolation so, for instance, forest regimes that will increase resource availability could be implemented. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Effects of landscape pattern on bird species distribution in the Mt. Lofty Ranges,South Australia

We assessed how well landscape metrics at 2, 5, and 10 km scales could explain the distribution of woodland bird species in the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia. We considered 31 species that have isolated or partially isolated populations in the region and used the Akaike Information Criterion to select a set of candidate logistic regression models. The 2 km distance was the most appropriate scale for a plurality of the species. While the total amount of area of native vegetation around a site was the most important determining factor, the effect of landscape configuration was also important for many species. Most species responded positively to area-independent fragmentation, but the responses to mean patch isolation and mean patch shape were more variable. Considering a set of candidate models for which there is reasonable support (Akaike weights > 0.10), 12 species responded negatively to landscapes with highly linear and isolated patches. No clear patterns emerged in terms of taxonomy or functional group as to how species respond to landscape configuration. Most of the species had models with relatively good discrimination (12 species had ROC values > 0.70), indicating that landscape pattern alone can explain their distributions reasonably well. For six species there were no models that had strong weight of evidence, based on the AIC and ROC criteria. This analysis shows the utility of the Akaike Information Criterion approach to model selection in landscape ecology. Our results indicate that landscape planners in the Mount Lofty Ranges must consider the spatial configuration of vegetation. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Integration by case,place and process: transdisciplinary research for sustainable grazing in the Lachlan River catchment,Australia

In a context of global agricultural intensification, integrating conservation and agricultural production is a major challenge. We have tackled the problem using a transdisciplinary research framework. Our work focuses on part of the upper Lachlan River catchment in southeastern Australia. The region is dominated by livestock grazing, and is part of an internationally recognised threatened ecoregion because most native woodland vegetation has been cleared. In productive areas, most remnant vegetation occurs as scattered and isolated paddock trees, which are dying from old age and not regenerating due to agricultural practices. The policy context and industry trends present additional risks for sparse trees. These declining trees provide many ecosystem services, including enhanced water infiltration, shade for livestock, aesthetic and cultural values, and habitat for native species. Our research aims to identify management options and policy settings that enable landscape-scale tree regeneration while maintaining grazing production. Our findings highlight tensions between the trajectory of tree cover in the region and stakeholder values. Under status quo management, many scattered and isolated paddock trees will be lost from farms, although most farmers would like to see them persist. Case studies on selected farms reveal management strategies that may be more sustainable in terms of tree regeneration and agricultural productivity, such as rotational grazing. In addition to these applied insights, our work provides a case study illustrating how a transdisciplinary study can be conducted efficiently by a small team. Our pragmatic approach has successfully combined targeted disciplinary activities with strategic collaborations and stakeholder engagement, all united by shared landscape, case graziers, and outreach activities.     

Landscape features associated with lyme disease risk in a suburban residential environment

The landscape features of residential properties within two communities were studied in relation to the abundance of the tick vector Ixodes scapularis. Habitat types of 400 properties, located in a Lyme disease endemic area of Westchester Co., New York, USA, were categorized into lawn, ornamental, ecotone, woods, and stone wall as measured from aerial photographs and sampled for nymphal-stage ticks. Logistic regression results indicate that presence or absence of ticks is influenced by the proportion of either lawn or woodland, and total woodland area. Poisson regression results indicate the abundance of nymphs is negatively associated with proportion, area, and patch frequency of lawn, and positively associated with proportion, area, and patch frequency of woodland. Predictions of tick presence and abundance from landscape features at the scale of individual property is useful for implementing disease prevention measures.     

Landscape changes and ecological studies in agricultural regions,Québec,Canada

Most landscape definitions in the western world are based on soil, climatic, or physiographic features and do not integrate humans as an integral part of the landscape. We present an approach where landscape types have been delineated in southern Québec, Canada based on current land use where anthropogenic and agricultural activities are concentrated as a practical application of the holistic approach in landscape definition. Landsat-TM satellite images were classified and the 27 habitat classes were regrouped into 5 general land cover classes (cash crop, dairy farming, forest, anthropogenic, wetlands) and overlaid onto soil landscape polygons to characterize natural boundary units. Cluster analyses were used to aggregate these polygons into seven agricultural types of land scape forming a gradient from urban and high-intensity cash crop farming activities to landscapes dominated by a mosaic of agriculture and forested areas. Multivariate analyses of raw data and of socio-economic and farming practices variables were used to describe the defined types of landscape and these were projected over three established land classification systems of southern Québec (Canadian ecoregions, North American Bird Conservation Initiative regions and Corn Heat Unit regions) to compare their similarity in terms of land cover and for planning of future ecological studies. Because agricultural landscapes are highly dynamic, they are bound to undergo changes in the near future. Our landscape delineation may serve as an experimental setup where land scape dynamics and wildlife populations and community structures could be monitored. Because the information we used to delineate and characterize agricultural landscape types is readily available in other countries, our approach could easily be adapted to similar data sources under and a wide variety of landscape types. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.