The island of Minorca, Spain, has become a patchy mosaic landscape as a result of centuries of human-induced fragmentation. The dynamics of the landscape elements and the spatial pattern of Minorca were analysed to test whether this human-modelled landscape was at a stationary state, and, if it was the case, to see whether the system could be characterized by a particular spatial pattern. Landsat TM satellite images were processed to derive land cover classification and vegetation index maps corresponding to the years 1984 and 1992, the best compromise between null cloudiness and maximum time span. The classification was used to test the stationary state by estimating the transition matrix of land cover. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to analyse the spatial pattern of change at the patch level. The spatial analysis of NDVI was based on four indices: fractal dimension, number and size distribution of patches, and spatial Kappa index. Those pattern descriptors were compared with values obtained from stochastic landscape simulations. Temporal analysis showed that land cover proportions remained approximately constant over the 8-year period, although interchange amongst patches existed. This suggested that the landscape of Minorca was close to a stationary state. The study of NDVI changes revealed that the spatial structure was different from that of neutral models and presented scale invariance properties. Results from land cover transitions and from NDVI patterning suggest that the landscape of Minorca is a critical system, in the framework of the self-organized criticality hypothesis, i.e. the mosaic of patches would self-organize at the frontier of a dynamic equilibrium constituted by the balance between disturbances and successional processes.

Because coral reefs are sensitive to land derived inputs of nutrient and sediment, there is concern worldwide for the effects of anthropogenic change in river catchments on reefs. Thirty-one river catchments drain directly into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, NE Australia. This case study was undertaken on the floodplain of the Herbert River catchment in north Queensland, utilizing remote sensing and GIS to assess both spatial and temporal changes in freshwater wetlands and riparian forests. We demonstrate that there has been a very large reduction in the area of these ecosystems since European settlement in the mid nineteenth century, with an 80% decline in their extent since 1943. We provide a range of quantitative measures to show that the landscape diversity of these ecosystems has also declined. These changes are of importance in terms of regional, national and international trends. We argue that policy, planning and management reform is required if the remaining ecological, economic and social values of these systems and the adjacent Great Barrier Reef Marine Park are to be maintained.

Wetland forest communities are seriously reduced and degraded throughout most of Europe, but significant areas still survive in the east and north-east. Data from 91 forest structures that support biodiversity are analysed in 369 relevés of Latvian wetland forests. These structures include variations in topography, stand composition, water movement and dead wood features occurring in semi-natural conditions undisturbed by management. There is clear structural differentiation between coniferous and deciduous wetlands. The study supports the widely held views on European forest quality: low volume of high-diameter (>50 cm) snags and logs, too few overmature trees, and the threat to pattern heterogeneity caused by traditional forestry and silviculture. Twenty areas (totalling c. 3800 ha) are identified as reserves that should be strictly protected in Latvia in order to maintain representative and intact samples of wet forest belonging to Eurosiberian alder swamps (Alnetea glutinosae), broad-leaved forests (Querco-Fagetea) and boreal forest (Vaccinio-Piceetea) communities. Based on habitat features and site ecology, the concept of sustainable forestry must be incorporated widely in utilization of European wetland forests in order to prevent further loss of biodiversity.