Abstract

Interdisciplinary approaches to landscape assessment are an extremely important component of environmental issues modelling and, consequently, of sustainable development. Thus, in recent years, specific indicators whose understanding and application requires a multidisciplinary background have been widely introduced and used. Examples of such indicators are landscape metrics, which reveal quantitative information concerning the structure, the features and the functionality of landscapes. The aim of the present study was to reveal the importance of global landscape metrics for monitoring the diversity, the fragmentation, the complexity and the homogeneity of a region. Based on 1970 maps and on 2009 satellite images, the values of seven global landscape metrics were computed for the mountainous and sub-mountainous region of the Prahova valley (Romania). The values highlighted the tendency of clustering and homogenization correlated with a decrease of shape complexity at landscape level. The information obtained can be useful both in landscape planning and habitat monitoring, as well as control of human intervention and anthropization.

Key words: Landscape metrics, fragmentation, diversity, homogeneity, complexity.