Several recent studies in landscape ecology have found periodicity in corre
lograms or semi-variograms calculated, for instance, from spatial data of s
oils, forests, or animal populations. Some of the studies interpreted this
as an indication of regular or periodic landscape patterns. This interpreta
tion is in disagreement with other studies that doubt whether such analysis
is valid. The objective of our study was to explore the relationship betwe
en periodicity in landscape patterns and geostatistical models. We were esp
ecially interested in the validity of the assumption that periodicity in ge
ostatistical models indicates periodicity in landscape pattern, and whether
the former can characterize frequency and magnitude of the latter. We crea
ted maps containing various periodic spatial patterns, derived correlograms
from these, and examined periodicity in the correlograms. We also created
non-regular maps that we suspected would cause periodicity in correlograms.
Our results demonstrate that a) Various periodic spatial patterns produce
periodicity in correlograms derived from them, b) the distance-lags at whic
h correlograms peak correspond to the average distances between patch cente
rs, c) periodicity is strongest when the diameter of patches is equal to th
e distance between patch edges, d) periodicity in omni-directional correlog
rams of complex spatial patterns (such as checkerboards) are combinations o
f several waves because inter-patch distances differ with direction; multip
le directional correlograms can decompose such complexity, and e) periodici
ty in correlograms can also be caused when the number bf patches in a study
site is small. These results highlight that correlograms can be used to de
tect and describe regular spatial patterns. However, it is crucial to ensur
e that the assumption of stationarity is not violated, i.e., that the study
area contains a sufficiently large number of patches to avoid incorrect co
nclusions.