Landscape ecology deals with the patterns and processes of biological systems in spatially and temporally heterogeneous environments (Risser et al., 1984). Landscape ecology does not fit into any of the conventional branches of ecology because it is a synthesis of many related disciplines that focus on spatial and/or temporal pattern. Four components are central to any effective exploration of landscape ecology: scale, dynamics, and linkages among patches (the elements of the landscape).

As initially developed in Europe, landscape ecology deals with geographic areas on the scale of 10–10,000 km2 (Naveh & Lieberman, 1984; Forman & Godron, 1986), a spatial dimension defined by the human-oriented context of European landscape ecology. In contrast, the spatial scale of landscape ecology in North America is less restricted because it tends to be less human oriented. The study of spatial heterogeneity and its influence on many kinds of organisms and ecological systems (Risser et al., 1984; Wiens, 1989; Wiens & Milne, 1989; Merriam, 1990) provides a more diverse theoretical and applied underpinning to the discipline in North America. This distinction is important because the human scale is by no means the standard for all life forms. For example, mountain lions and jaguars range over hundreds of square kilometers while the spatial scale (landscape) of an ant colony is on the order of tens of square meters. Although stone-age humans interacted with their landscape on a scale like that of the mountain lion, the landscape of modern human society is broader.