The parallel trajectories and increasing integration of landscape ecology and land system science

Abstract

ABSTRACTLandscape Ecology and Land Systems Science share a common concern for the dynamics of landscapes, their environmental and human drivers and consequences, and the sustainability of land as a coupled social-ecological system. Both scientific communities employ interdisciplinary approaches to monitoring, understanding and projecting changes in landscapes, and share important epistemic, thematic and methodological interests. Nonetheless, they are also distinguished by important differences in problem framing, base constituencies, core questions, methodologies employed, and engagement with governance and policy. We review these two scientific fields, highlighting key commonalities and differences. By mapping areas of convergence and divergence in these two foremost communities studying land use and landscapes, we highlight promising research areas where the relative strengths of each can be merged to foster new advances in an integrated human-environment science of land systems. Such advances are essential for improved assessments of social-environmental systems dynamics that underpin sustainability themes.