Landscape ecology is a highly interdisciplinary field of study which is characterized, most conspicuously, by its spatial explicitness in dealing with ecological problems in theory and practice. Emphasis on spatial heterogeneity begs questions of the pattern-process relationships and scale. Studying spatial pattern without relating it to ecological processes is superficial, and investigating ecological processes without consideration of spatial pattern is incomplete. From this perspective, landscape ecology is a science of heterogeneity and scale, providing a new scientific paradigm for ecology and other related fields. On the other hand, with increasing human dominance in the biosphere, emphasis on broad spatial scales makes inevitable to deal with humans and their activities. Thus, humanistic and holistic perspectives have been and will continue to be central in landscape ecological research. To move forward, future landscape ecological studies need to further address the key research topics and concerted efforts need to be made to focus on sustainability-related research questions.
