Landscape diversity patterns in Alentejo forest area

Abstract

The development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has created a set of tools that facilitate the analysis of landscape patterns in large areas. In the present study the landscape diversity patterns of the forest area in each Alentejo territorial unit, mainly pure and mixed stands of cork and Holm oaks, were treated as functions of stand composition and ground cover. The diversity of landscape forest patterns was evaluated in terms of parameters such as area, shape and relative isolation. Diversity patterns permitted the identification of differences in composition and ground cover, thus defining landscape units.