Multiscale heterogeneity map and associated scaling profile for landscape analysis

• Published in: Landscape and Urban Planning
• Main Author: Gaucherel, Cédric
• Other Authors: Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations (UMR AMAP), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud ), Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution Rennes (ECOBIO), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut Ecologie et Environnement - CNRS Ecologie et Environnement (INEE-CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2007
• Subjects: Landscape heterogeneity; Contagion; Pattern; Spatial analysis; Moving window calculation; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00196170; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.01.022

International audience Spatial heterogeneity, in the wide sense of pattern complexity and variability, appears to be one of the dominant influences of ecological functions and processes. The most widely used quantification of heterogeneity in environmental studies is based on derived Shannon information theory indices. Yet, such heterogeneity index is not able to quantify the surface patterns of a landscape with a fully explicit scheme at each place and scale of the landscape. The objective of this work is to propose a methodology to bypass this disadvantage and to capture the local and scaling variations of the landscape. The method developed here combines a multiscale heterogeneity map (MHM) with a heterogeneity profile (HP) averaging at each place (respectively, at each scale) the spatial information contained in the landscape. Confidence levels have been estimated on the basis of a simple neutral landscape model to detect significant non-random heterogeneity fluctuations. This methodology is illustrated on both categorical (patchy) and continuous (pixelised) real landscapes: a heterogeneous agricultural landscape in Brittany and a spring phytoplankton bloom in north Atlantic. Heterogeneity analyses of both image types can simultaneously reveal subtle quantitative and qualitative features (gradients, boundaries, random or patchy patterns at successive scales) linked to ecological processes. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.