Landscape Models for Use in Studies of Landscape Change and Habitat Fragmentation

A range of conceptual models can be used to characterize landscapes. The type of model used is important because it can have a strong influence on the understanding of biotic responses to landscape change and on the conservation recommendations that might be made. Conceptual landscape models vary from single-species ones that are based on a species perspective of a landscape (e.g. the landscape contour model) to those based on a human perspective of a landscape. Examples of this second group of landscape models include extremely well-known and widely applied ones such as the island model, the patch-matrixcorridor model and the variegation model. The different models have different strengths and limitations. However, these are rarely considered in landscape and conservation planning and many workers appear to be captive to a particular conceptual framework and particular model (especially the island and patch-matrix-corridor models).