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A Methodological Framework to Quantify Anthropogenic Effects on Landscape Patterns

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Book cover Landscape Ecology in Asian Cultures

Part of the book series: Ecological Research Monographs ((ECOLOGICAL))

Abstract

From an ecological landscape perspective, cultural landscapes can be considered as “anthropized” landscapes, in which patterns and processes are altered by human intervention. The importance of the study of spatial patterns in landscapes is justified by the pattern/process paradigm. The emergent properties of patterns reflect two components: landscape composition, which describes the number of patch types as well as their abundance, and landscape configuration, which refers to the spatial arrangement of the patch types. In this chapter, methods and strategies to analyze spatial pattern and landscape dynamics are discussed, and emphasis is put on the detection and quantification of anthropogenic effects on landscapes. Land mosaics showing anthropogenic effects are characterized by fragmented natural land cover, high frequencies of edge habitat, simple patch geometry, and dominant proportions of anthropogenic patch types. Landscape transformations associated with “anthropization” lead to a disintegration of natural patch types and to a reinforcement of anthropogenic ones. Four techniques to measure anthropogenic effects on pattern are discussed (1) the quantification of the fragmentation of natural habitats and its interpretation in terms of diversity, heterogeneity and entropy, (2) the quantification of edge effects in order to measure the ecological impact of human activity, (3) the determination of patch fractal dimensions to detect pattern simplification, and (4) the determination of the landscape transformation processes responsible for pattern dynamics. At the end of the chapter, a short list of analysis methods and strategies is proposed for detecting and measuring landscape “anthropization.”

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the government of Ivory Coast for the fellowships of I. Bamba and Y.S.S. Barima. BTC/CTB is acknowledged for the fellowship of L. Iyongo Waya Mongo. This publication was made possible by a research grant from the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders “Dynamiek in diversiteit, functionaliteit en stabiliteit van mangroven, benaderd vanuit een retrospectieve en actuele teledetectie-aanpak m.b.v. nieuwe patroonherkenningstechnieken.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service d’Ecologie du Paysage et Systèmes de Production Végétale, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 169, 50 Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 1050, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Jan Bogaert, Yao Sabas S. Barima, Issouf Bamba, Léon Iyongo Waya Mongo & Adi Mama

  2. Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210093, China

    Jian Ji & Hong Jiang

  3. Chengdu University of Technology, 1 Dongsan Road, Erxianqiao, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610059, China

    Jian Ji

  4. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Vakgroep Elektronica en Informatica, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussel, Belgium

    Edgar Nyssen

  5. Laboratoire de Complexité et Dynamique des Systèmes Tropicaux, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 169, 50 Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 1050, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Farid Dahdouh-Guebas

  6. Onderzoeksgroep Algemene Plantkunde en Natuurbeheer, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussel, Belgium

    Farid Dahdouh-Guebas & Nico Koedam

Authors
  1. Jan Bogaert
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  2. Yao Sabas S. Barima
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  3. Jian Ji
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  4. Hong Jiang
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  5. Issouf Bamba
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  6. Léon Iyongo Waya Mongo
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  7. Adi Mama
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  8. Edgar Nyssen
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  9. Farid Dahdouh-Guebas
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  10. Nico Koedam
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Correspondence to Jan Bogaert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institution for Marine and Island Cultures, Mokpo National University, 61 Dorim-ri, Cheonggye-myeon, Muan-gun, Jeonnam, 534-729, Republic of Korea

    Sun-Kee Hong  & Jae-Eun Kim  & 

  2. School of Life Sciences, School of Sustainability, and Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, 874501, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA

    Jianguo Wu

  3. Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, 1-5-1, Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8529, Japan

    Nobukazu Nakagoshi

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Calculation of the Interior-to-Edge Breakpoint Distance Using PatchCalc

The program PatchCalc has been developed and made available as free and open software (Wu 2007). The basic algorithms used in this package implement the identification of the distinct patches, and the calculations for each patch, on a distance map, i.e., a two-dimensional map (say, a matrix) that holds for each pixel inside the patch the minimum distance to the pixels outside the patch. Two distance measures have been implemented.

  • The city block distance (CBD) considers all paths between the pixel being considered and the outside pixels, defined by “stepping” from one pixel to a horizontally or vertically adjacent pixel. The CBD is the minimum number of steps required.

  • The Euclidean distance.

Such a distance map allows us to derive most of the relevant information for each patch.

  • The area, i.e., the number of pixels.

  • The maximum perimeter, i.e., the number of horizontal and vertical edges separating an inner pixel and an adjacent outer pixel.

  • The minimum perimeter, i.e., the number of boundary pixels.

  • The breakpoint distance, which is obtained from a histogram of the values from the distance map, and is derived by taking the smallest integer distance that makes the interior area less than the edge area (median value derived from the histogram).

  • The largest radius, i.e., the maximum of the distance map.

  • The core area.

The software package (including all sources) is available free for both UNIX/Linux and Windows systems. It can be retrieved from the following ftp site from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel − Electronics Department, using the ftp command to access both ftp.etro.vub.ac.be and the subdirectory ETRO/EDGARD_NYSSEN, or using any kind of web browser (Firefox, Explorer, etc.) via the following URL:

ftp://ftp.etro.vub.ac.be/ETRO/EDGARD_NYSSEN/

Use the following credentials to access the ftp site:

Username: etroguest

Password: anonymous1!

The name of the file to be downloaded is PatchCalc_software_<version>.zip (where <version> stands for the version number or version date of the package). This zip archive needs to be unpacked (accessible in a straightforward manner under Windows; the files can be extracted under Linux using the unzip command). The main software consists of the PatchCalc program. The PatchCalc program is normally used in conjunction with generic support software for image processing (mainly for file format conversion). For this purpose, we recommend the use of the free ImageMagick ® package (ImageMagick ® is a registered trademark of ImageMagick Studio LLC). For more details about the installation, see below.

  1. (a) 

    Instructions for Windows users

The main directory of the PatchCalc_software package contains the subdirectory Windows, in turn including the PatchCalc.exe command. Subdirectory code-­Windows contains the sources, so that the executable can be rebuilt from scratch if necessary. The ImageMagick ® package can be obtained via the World Wide Web: http://www.imagemagick.org/script/index.php . It is recommended that the most recent version of the ImageMagick ® package is downloaded and installed. ImageMagick Studio LLC has an ftp site (ftp.imagemagick.org) from which all necessary files can be downloaded, using anonymous ftp or using a web browser (URL: ftp://ftp.imagemagick.org/pub/ImageMagick/ ):

Username: anonymous

Password: <your e-mail address>

The instruction file and the directory containing the installation scripts are, respectively, ftp://ftp.imagemagick.org/pub/ImageMagick/QuickStart.txt

ftp://ftp.imagemagick.org/pub/ImageMagick/binaries/

The installation of PatchCalc (and ImageMagick ®) can be tested using the test data you find in the package.

Use

  • Open a command line dialog (launch Start  →  Run and enter cmd in the dialog).

  • Go to the folder (say, C:\test) where PatchCalc.exe is stored (use the cd command).

  • Copy the image file (say, X.bmp) in that folder.

  • Convert the file X.bmp into a gray-formatted image file. ImageMagick ® provides as useful tools the commands identify (to figure out the dimensions <width>x<height> of the image) and convert (to perform format conversion).

C:\test> identify X.bmp

C:\test> convert -depth 8 -size <width>x<height> X.bmp X.gray

  • Apply PatchCalc.

C:\test> PatchCalc.exe X.bmp X.gray X.txt

Beside text output on X.txt, the program produces a color_0.gray image file showing the distinct patches. This can be converted to any kind of image file using the ImageMagick ® command convert, e.g.,

C:\test> convert -depth 8 -size <width>x<height> color_0.gray color_0.jpg

  1. (b) 

    Instructions for Linux users

The PatchCalc program can be compiled and installed under a Linux system through the following procedure.

  • The extraction of the files of PatchCalc_software_<version>.zip yields a directory­ named PatchCalc_software. Go to the Linux source directory

  • % cd PatchCalc_software/code_Linux

  • This directory contains the source code and makefile. If necessary you can edit this file to change the installation directory (by default, INSTALLDIRECTORY  =  ../Linux). The comments of the makefile also describe in detail how the standard UNIX/Linux command make can be called to manage the compilation/installation process.

  • For compiling and installing PatchCalc simply execute the command.

  • % make install

The ImageMagick ® package can be obtained via the World Wide Web: http://www.imagemagick.org/ . However, as this package is very popular, your brand of Linux almost certainly allows you to fetch and install it using the software installation tools available to you (e.g., synaptic). The installation of PatchCalc (and ImageMagick ®) can be tested using the test data you find in the package.

Use

  • Open a shell window.

  • Go to the folder (say, /home/dominique/software/patchcalc/) where PatchCalc.exe is stored (use the cd command).

  • Copy the image file (say, X.bmp) in that folder.

  • Convert the file X.bmp into a gray-formatted image file. ImageMagick ® provides as useful tools the commands identify (to figure out the dimensions <width>x<height> of the image) and convert (to perform format conversion).

software/patchcalc% identify X.bmp

software/patchcalc% convert -depth 8 -size <width>x<height> X.bmp X.gray

  • Apply PatchCalc

software/patchcalc%./PatchCalc X.bmp X.gray X.txt

Beside text output on X.txt, the program produces a color_0.gray image file showing the distinct patches. This can be converted to any kind of image file, using the ImageMagick ® command convert, e.g.,

software/patchcalc% convert -depth 8 -size <width>x<height> color_0.gray color_0.jpg

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Bogaert, J. et al. (2011). A Methodological Framework to Quantify Anthropogenic Effects on Landscape Patterns. In: Hong, SK., Kim, JE., Wu, J., Nakagoshi, N. (eds) Landscape Ecology in Asian Cultures. Ecological Research Monographs. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-87799-8_11

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