Quantification of landscape change from satellite remote sensing

Satellite remote sensing data and methods can be used to develop maps of la rge areas at different times in order to assess changes in forest ecosystem patterns and processes. Such maps are useful in understanding wildlife pop ulations and habitat, forest biodiversity, and forest productivity. They ma y be important in ecological monitoring programs at multiple spatial and te mporal scales, and could include assessment of structural aspects of the la ndscape, such as forest or habitat fragmentation. Quantification and measur ement of landscape structure depend on the definition of landscape classes or patches, defined on the basis of more or less homogeneous elements, whic h differ in some measurable way from neighbouring patches. In this paper, w e review some of the issues, and provide examples using satellite remote se nsing data, in the quantification of landscape structure in two Canadian fo rests. The link between landscape structure and biodiversity is provided th rough the emergence of ecological understanding of species richness, specie s-habitat or niches, and metapopulation dynamics.