Future options in landscape ecology: Development and research

The aim of this brief overview is to highlight some new and promising research fields in landscape ecology, which is essentially an interdisciplinary field of study. We also analyse the development of some classical branches of landscape ecology regarding pattern and process relationships at broad spatial and temporal scales, such as landscape metrics, the influence of anthropogenic factors and global climate change on landscape development, the fragmentation of ecosystems and disturbances of populations, and material and energy cycling in and between ecosystems.