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Global assessment of landscape pattern changes from 1992 to 2020
Tamsin L Woodman1,2, Peter Alexander2,3, David F R P Burslem1
1School of Biological Sciences, Zoology Building, University of Aberdeen, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ Scotland.
Landscape Ecology
|October 20, 2025
Summary
Global landscape patterns changed significantly between 1992 and 2020. Unmanaged grasslands expanded, while forests and pastures contracted, impacting biodiversity and environmental processes.
Area of Science:
- Ecological Sciences
- Environmental Science
- Geospatial Analysis
Background:
- Landscape pattern changes impact biodiversity and environmental processes like carbon cycling.
- Previous global assessments lacked multiscale analysis across diverse land use and land cover (LULC) types.
- Understanding these impacts requires comprehensive, multiscale analysis of various LULC classes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess global-scale changes in landscape patterns for six key LULC classes from 1992 to 2020.
- To analyze trends in landscape metrics across multiple spatial scales (100 to 25,600 km²).
- To link landscape metric changes to shifts in LULC composition and configuration.
Main Methods:
- Calculated six class-level landscape metrics for six LULC classes (urban, cropland, pasture/rangeland, forest, unmanaged grass/shrubland, sparse/no vegetation).
- Quantified metrics at five distinct landscape extents (100, 400, 1600, 6400, 25,600 km²).
- Evaluated trends in metrics and correlated them with changes in LULC area and spatial configuration.
Main Results:
- Unmanaged grass/shrubland increased in area, exhibiting greater fragmentation and shape complexity.
- Pasture/rangeland and forest LULC classes generally decreased in area and fragmentation.
- Despite spatial heterogeneity, adjacent 100 km² landscapes often displayed consistent directional changes in area and fragmentation.
Conclusions:
- Global landscape pattern changes are highly variable, driven by local to regional factors.
- The generated multiscale global dataset of landscape metrics can inform future research.
- This dataset will aid in understanding drivers of landscape change and their environmental consequences.
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