Landscape Spatial Structure Research Articles

The Effects of Spatial Structure and Development Intensity of the Urban Landscape on Bird Biodiversity in Anhui Province

Exploring the factors that drive changes in biodiversity is a hot and critically important topic in landscape ecology and biogeography. In this study, semi-structured citizen science data and bird distribution maps were employed to gather data from 2015 to 2020 for the calculation of bird species richness, the Shannon index, and the Pielou index in Anhui Province. These metrics were utilized to assess avian biodiversity and to elucidate the spatial patterns of biodiversity distribution across the region. In this research, a structural equation model (SEM) was utilized to investigate the relationships between the three dimensions of landscape spatial structure, urban development intensity, and environmental factors on bird biodiversity, and a conceptual framework was established to identify the key driving factors. The validity, reliability, and fit of the hypothesized model were substantiated through rigorous testing, demonstrating its reasonableness. The results indicate the following: (1) In landscape spatial structure, landscape composition and configuration play crucial roles in influencing bird diversity. An increased proportion of cultivated land negatively impacts bird diversity, whereas the expansion of forested areas promotes it. At the configuration level, the Largest Patch Index (LPI) significantly enhances bird diversity, serving as the primary driving force. Landscape spatial structure affects bird diversity both directly, through its composition, and indirectly, through its configuration. (2) The dimension of urban development intensity generally shows significant negative impacts; among these, GDP has the greatest comprehensive impact and shows a significant negative impact. (3) Topography has the greatest overall impact on bird diversity among the environmental factors, with a predominantly direct positive effect. (4) Overall, urban landscape spatial structure and urban development intensity are the main driving forces of bird diversity in Anhui Province, the greatest of which is the direct effect of the urban development intensity. These results provide an important scientific basis for landscape planning and ecological protection and provide inspiration for assessing the driving factors of animal and plant diversity in other regions.

Research on the Development and Construction of Rural Cultural Tourism Resources Based on the “Point axis” Theory

ABSTRACT Since the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, rural tourism has gradually become an important industry to promote rural economic development and increase farmers’ income. At the same time, the development and utilization of cultural and tourism resources have also received attention. There are rich cultural tourism resources in Xima Village, Jixi County, Anhui Province, but the level of development and utilization is not high. Guided by the “point axis” Development theory, this paper comprehensively considered the cultural and tourism resources stock, landscape spatial layout, and regional economic and social development of Xima Village, explored and determined the important tourism nodes and development axis in the village, proposed the “Four enhancements” action model, and constructed the tourism landscape spatial structure of “one core, two axes, and three areas”, in order to optimize the development path of rural cultural and tourism resources activation, inheritance, and utilization, Bringing development opportunities to rural tourism.

MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE IN ARID HIGHLANDS (CASE STUDY OF THE MONGUN TAIGA MOUNTAINS)

The analysis of the spatial structure of landscapes of arid highlands was carried out by combinations of se veral morphometric characteristics based on the high-resolution remote sensing data. The choice of the Mongun Taiga Mountains located in the west of the Republic of Tyva (Russia), as a model site, is due to the possibility of verifying the results of morphometric analysis using the extensive material from long-term field studies of the massif. It is shown that the territory could be split into sections relatively homogeneous in terms of relief morphometric parameters in order to describe the locations with a sufficiently high accuracy. It has been established that the entropy of the distribution of plant community groups, averaged over altitudinal intervals, significantly decreases when locations are identified based on combinations of morphometric values for the entire altitudinal profile, regardless of the macroslope. Combining field trials, cartographic and remote sensing methods makes it possible to assert that proposed set of morphometric characteristics is able to output plant cover horizontal structure. It can be used for automatic interpretation of hardly accessible areas of Inner Asia as well as for the forecast of landscape structure transformation as a result of spontaneous or human-induced changes.

Exploring the construction and analysis method of landscape spatial structure based on complex networks

Complex network theory proposes a structural network model that abstracts the elements in a complex system into nodes and the relationship between elements into ties, which proved to be a scientific method to study the structural system of complexities. This article aims to apply the complex network theory to interpret the organization of landscape spatial structure and propose a spatial structure network construction and quantitative analysis method suitable for landscape space. The following two questions are addressed in this research: (1) How to extract the structural elements from the landscape space and realize the construction of the structural network model based on the 3D spatial information? (2) How to quantitatively analyze the organization characteristics of a spatial structure according to the particularity of landscape space? The research content of this article includes the following five aspects, which are 3D spatial information acquisition, structural element extraction, structural element description, structural network model diagramming, and quantitative index selection. Taking Nanjing Lovers Park as an example, the feasibility of this method is verified. The results show that the method proposed can guarantee the accuracy of the landscape spatial structure model, visualize the attributes of structural elements, and achieve a refined analysis of the structure organization.

Oil palm plantations in an aging agricultural landscape in the eastern Amazon: Pushing Amazon forests farther from biodiversity-friendly landscapes

Oil palm plantations across the tropics are intended to promote sustainable production by incorporating degraded lands while sparing old-growth forests. Here, we examine the trajectory of an Amazonian-forest focal landscape as it experiences the expansion of oil palm and its interactions with multiple land-uses. Land-use composition, landscape spatial configuration and structure in a 765.65-km2 watershed were examined over a 16-yr period (2002–2018) via Landsat imagery. Briefly, (1) old-growth forest coverage dropped from 37.3 % to 18.3 % across the whole landscape, (2) secondary forest and arable fields expanded until 2014, and (3) oil palm plantations emerged in 2010 with a positive trend thereafter, resulting in an 11.9 % expansion until 2018. In 2018, only 140.7 km2 of old-growth forest persisted, while oil palm plantations covered 91.8 km2. Oil palm expansion resulted from 14 land-use trajectories, with changes involving old-growth forests accounting for half the area (48.1 %) covered by plantations in 2018. However, only 0.4 % of the plantation area resulted from a direct conversion of old-growth forests. Landscape structure became increasingly degraded, which included the elimination of gallery forests, the proliferation of edge-affected habitats and the collapse of forest structural connectivity. Our results suggest that the eastern Amazon is still experiencing forest loss and exhibit highly dynamic land-use changes. Furthermore, landscapes continue to suffer degradation of key attributes related to biodiversity persistence and the provision of ecosystem services. Oil palm plantations have a catalytic effect on land-use dynamics, speeding up forest shrinking and landscape degradation. The oil palm sector requires a better governance based on guidelines able to guarantee either the persistence or the emergence of biodiversity-friendly landscapes.

An evaluation method of urban green space landscape spatial structure based on entropy weight method

An evaluation method of urban green space landscape spatial structure based on entropy weight method

An evaluation method of urban green space landscape spatial structure based on entropy weight method

An evaluation method of urban green space landscape spatial structure based on entropy weight method

Application of interactive Genetic Algorithm in landscape planning and design

In order to improve the design effect of garden landscape space environment and optimize the structure of garden landscape space environment, an optimization design method of garden landscape space environment based on interactive genetic algorithm was proposed. Landscape space environment design is built with image visual feature space distributed monitoring model and fuzzy pixel area feature fusion reconstruction model, and the landscape space environment design of the image by multistage decomposition and pixel gray characteristics, established landscape space environment design image visual feature reconstruction model. The method also combines block area template matching method is landscape space environment design of the image features visual reconstruction and visual space distributed detection, information fusion using similarity model reconstructs the landscape space environment design of image visual perception process of information fusion, in order to extract fuzzy characteristic landscape space environment design of the image, Finally, interactive genetic algorithm is used to realize the quality assessment of landscape art information fusion perception and visual reconstruction. The simulation results show that compared with the traditional method, the visual reconstruction quality of landscape spatial environment design image processed by this method is better, the image recognition accuracy is higher, and the output signal-to-noise ratio is improved by 14.6%. The experimental results prove that the introduction of interactive genetic algorithm in landscape planning and design can effectively solve the problems of multi-level feature decomposition and pixel feature separation in the process of landscape design, optimize the landscape spatial environment structure, and achieve good landscape spatial environment design effect.

Distribution and Structure Analysis of Mountain Permafrost Landscape in Orulgan Ridge (Northeast Siberia) Using Google Earth Engine

An analysis of the landscape spatial structure and diversity in the mountain ranges of Northeast Siberia is essential to assess how tundra and boreal landscapes may respond to climate change and anthropogenic impacts in the vast mountainous permafrost of the Arctic regions. In addition, a precise landscape map is required for knowledge-based territorial planning and management. In this article, we aimed to explore and enhanced methods to analyse and map the permafrost landscape in Orulgan Ridge. The Google Earth Engine cloud platform was used to generate vegetation cover maps based on multi-fusion classification of Sentinel 2 MSI and Landsat 8 OLI time series data. Phenological features based on the monthly median values of time series Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), and Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) were used to recognize geobotanical units according to the hierarchical concept of permafrost landscapes by the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. In addition, geomorphological variables of megarelief (mountains and river valleys) were identified using the GIS-based terrain analysis and landform classification of the ASTER GDEM scenes mosaic. The resulting environmental variables made it possible to categorize nine classes of mountain permafrost landscapes. The result obtained was compared with previous permafrost landscape maps, which revealed a significant difference in distribution and spatial structure of intrazonal valleys and mountain tundra landscapes. Analysis of the landscape structure revealed a significant distribution of classes of mountain Larix-sparse forests and tundra. Landscape diversity was described by six longitudinal and latitudinal landscape hypsometric profiles. River valleys allow boreal–taiga landscapes to move up to high-mountainous regions. The features of the landscape structure and diversity of the ridge are noted, which, along with the specific spatial organization of vegetation and relief, can be of key importance for environmental monitoring and the study of regional variability of climatic changes.

Optimal Design of Ecological Landscape Spatial Structure Based on Edge Computing of Internet of Things

Ecological landscape space refers to a whole composed of many different ecosystems in a larger area. The spatial structure of the ecological landscape is the spatial arrangement and combination of the components and elements of the landscape. With the sustainable development of today’s world, the procedure of urbanization is also accelerating. The urbanization procedure has significantly changed the types of urban landscapes and the spatial structure of urban landscapes, which will also produce corresponding ecological effects. No matter how good or bad the ecological effect is, it will have a certain impact on people’s lives. Therefore, continuously promoting the majorization of the spatial structure of urban ecological landscape is a significant method to promise the healthy improvement of the city. This article is aimed at studying the optimal design of urban ecological landscape spatial structure based on edge computing of the Internet of Things. This paper uses city A as the experimental object to design a space structure majorization experiment of urban ecological landscape based on the edge computing of the Internet of Things, and the experiment draws a conclusion. The urban ecological landscape structure majorization plan based on the edge computing of the Internet of Things increases the biodiversity index of city A by 1.2, indicating that the method of optimizing the structure of the ecological landscape based on the edge computing of the Internet of Things has a better effect of optimizing the structure of the ecological landscape.

Integrating landscape ecology and the assessment of ecosystem services in the study of karst areas

ContextA landscape is defined as a “system of ecosystems” and this is a model in which karst areas can easily be integrated. In karst areas, much of the connectivity between the units of the landscape is underground, with aquifers and caves forming a continuous layered tissue. However, underground environments are among the least studied landscapes on Earth because of limited accessibility and the difficulty of performing surveys.ObjectivesThe aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for applying principles of landscape ecology to research on karst environments.MethodsBy adapting the standard patch-corridor-matrix model to a 3d model, the main issues that need to be addressed were identified. These include identifying the main morphological (surface and underground) karst features; determining the landscape structure through its features, composition, and configuration; and developing adequate indices.ResultsThe landscape spatial structure of different karst areas influences fundamental ecological functions and biodiversity patterns. Determining how structure, biodiversity, and functions relate reveals important insights into the functioning of karst systems. Emphasizing the provisioning of ecosystem services is essential in supporting the concept that karst regions are vital for human well-being because they host valuable resources and fundamental ecosystem processes. The paper discusses how this framework helps address anthropogenic impacts and conservation issues on karst.ConclusionsThe potential of applying a landscape approach to karst systems lies in developing models that provide ecological information relevant to understanding karst systems and understanding their implications for natural resources management.

Optimization of landscape spatial structure aiming at achieving carbon neutrality in desert and mining areas

Carbon neutrality is a long-term climate goal in the context of global warming and can be achieved by reducing carbon emissions and increasing carbon sinks. Vegetation has a very important and irreplaceable role in increasing carbon sinks, but it is often destroyed, especially in desertification and mining areas. Therefore, restoration of the vegetation in these areas is essential. Seeking the optimal solution for landscape spatial structure through adjustment and optimization can promote ecological processes, improve environment and soil conditions on a large scale, provide favorable conditions for vegetation growth, and is an effective way to achieve vegetation restoration to increase carbon sinks. Here, a targeted landscape spatial structure optimization scheme called EFCT model was developed for complex ecological situation of Ordos, with the goal of increasing carbon sinks to achieve carbon neutrality. The scheme identified areas where the landscape spatial structure needs to be optimized and the direction of optimization based on the differences in the synergy degree between ecological function and connectivity of the patches. The study also compared the carbon sink function and robustness of the landscape spatial structure before and after optimization according to the scheme. The results show that the patches in the landscape spatial structure of Ordos form four separate clusters distributed in a differentiated east-west part of the structure, with higher ecological function and poorer connectivity in the east and the opposite in the west. In the landscape spatial structure optimized by the EFCT model, the ecological function of 42 patches was enhanced, and 19 patches and 44 corridors were added. The total carbon sink in the optimized structure increased by 31.51% compared to the unoptimized structure, mainly due to the improved ecological function of the grassland patches in the western structure, in addition to the carbon sink contribution of the new patches and corridors. At the same time, the connectivity between the four clusters had been enhanced and the structure was more coherent and stable.

The role of habitat fragmentation in Pleistocene megafauna extinction in Eurasia

The idea that several small, rather than a single large, habitat areas should hold the highest total species richness (the so‐called SLOSS debate) brings into question the importance of habitat fragmentation to extinction risk. SLOSS studies are generally addressed over a short time scale, potentially ignoring the long‐term dimension of extinction risk. Here, we provide the first long‐term evaluation of the role of habitat fragmentation in species extinction, focusing on 22 large mammal species that lived in Eurasia during the last 200 000 years. By combining species distribution models and landscape pattern analysis, we compared temporal dynamics of habitat spatial structure between extinct and extant species, estimating the size, number and degree of the geographical isolation of their suitable habitat patches. Our results evidenced that extinct mammals went through considerable habitat fragmentation during the last glacial period and started to fare worse than extant species from about 50 ka. In particular, our modelling effort constrains the fragmentation of habitats into a narrow time window, from 46 to 36 ka ago, surprisingly coinciding with known extinction dates of several megafauna species. Landscape spatial structure was the second most important driver affecting megafauna extinction risk (ca 38% importance), after body mass (ca 39%) and followed by dietary preferences (ca 20%). Our results indicate a major role played by landscape fragmentation on extinction. Such evidence provides insights on what might likely happen in the future, with climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation acting as the main forces exerting their negative effects on biodiversity.

Competition for space in a structured landscape: The effect of seed limitation on coexistence under a tolerance‐fecundity trade‐off

Abstract Life‐history trade‐offs are important coexistence mechanisms in plant communities. In particular, a trade‐off between seed quality and seed output may explain coexistence among species with a wide variety of seed sizes in heterogeneous landscapes with varying degrees of local stresses such as shade, drought and browsing. Under spatially implicit formulations of the tolerance‐fecundity trade‐off, species diversity is only bounded by community size and environmental heterogeneity. However, these formulations leave unanswered the question of how dispersal limitation, an important aspect of real communities, impacts the ability of the tolerance‐fecundity trade‐off to support coexistence. Here we show using stochastic cellular automata that coexistence under the tolerance‐fecundity trade‐off in a spatially structured landscape is strongly modulated by the interactions between the spatial scales of species dispersal and environmental variability. Specifically, coexistence in a patchy landscape is higher under short dispersal scales relative to the scale of environmental variation. These conditions allow species to segregate spatially and thus avoid interspecific competition. In addition to dispersal limitation, coexistence under the tolerance‐fecundity trade‐off is promoted by a sharp drop in tolerance as local environmental stress increases, a high overall seed output across species, local homogeneity in environmental conditions and weak age structure in fertility. In particular, coexistence is much higher when species have full tolerance to stress levels below a threshold and zero tolerance above that threshold, with nothing in between. This steep gradient contributes to coexistence because it maximizes niche separation between similar species. Synthesis. When plants compete for space, dispersal limitation and landscape spatial structure can conspire to boost coexistence and diversity. Our results show that the tolerance‐fecundity trade‐off is a strong niche differentiation mechanism when species experience a well‐defined distinction between suitable and unsuitable environments, and supports higher diversity when dispersal scales are shorter than the scales of variation in the environment. We conclude that the trade‐off is more likely to be a relevant coexistence mechanism in the context of large‐scale environmental variation, such as topography, than small‐scale variation, such as in litter cover and canopy shading.

From species sorting to mass effects: spatial network structure mediates the shift between metacommunity archetypes

Local assemblages are embedded in networks of communities connected by dispersal, and understanding the processes that mediate this local–regional interaction is central to understanding biodiversity patterns. In this network (i.e. metacommunity), the strength of dispersal relative to the intensity of environmental selection typically determines whether local communities are comprised of species well‐adapted to the local environment (i.e. species sorting) or are dominated by regionally successful species that may not be locally adapted (i.e. mass effects), which by extension determines the capacity of the landscape to sustain diversity. Despite the fundamentally spatial nature of these dispersal‐mediated processes, much of our theoretical understanding comes from spatially implicit systems, a special case of spatial structure in which patches are all connected to each other equally. In many real systems, both the connections among patches (i.e. network topology) and the distributions of environments across patches (i.e. spatial autocorrelation) are not arranged uniformly. Here, we use a metacommunity model to investigate how spatial heterogeneities may change the balance between species sorting versus mass effects and diversity outcomes. Our simulations show that, in general, the spatially implicit model generates an outlier in biodiversity patterns compared to other networks, and most likely amplifies mass effects relative to species sorting. Network topology has a strong effect on metacommunity outcome, with topologies of sparse connections and few loops promoting sorting of species into suitable patches. Spatial autocorrelation is another key factor; by interacting with spatial topology, intermediate‐scale clusters of similar patches can emerge, leading to a reduction of regional competition, and hence maintenance of gamma diversity. These results provide a better understanding of the role that complex spatial landscape structure plays in metacommunity processes, a necessary step to understanding how metacommunity processes relate to biodiversity conservation.

Exploration of expansion patterns and prediction of urban growth for Colombo City, Sri Lanka

This study attempts to analyze and simulate urban growth pattern of Colombo city in Sri Lanka which is a dynamic and rapid urbanizing region. The spatiotemporal urban growth patterns during 1997–2019 were first analyzed by comparing Land Cover (LC) maps for time intervals between 1997–2008 and 2008–2019 using intensity and growth pattern analysis. Urban lands in Colombo have grown in a faster rate during 1997–2008 as compared to 2008–2019 period. The prominent spatial expansion pattern during 1997–2008 is outlying, as opposed to edge expansion which is predominant during 2008–2019. These major urban expansion patterns were modeled to predict the future urban structure of Colombo in 2030 using FUTURES (FUTure Urban-Regional Environment Simulation) model. FUTURES is a patch-based, multilevel modeling framework for simulating the emergence of landscape spatial structure in urbanizing regions. Simulated result generated from the model reveals substantial agreement with real ground urban changes showing a kappa value of 0.78. The model allows to predict three different scenarios, namely Business as Usual, Infill Growth and Sprawl showing over 100 km2 increase in urban lands by 2030. Predicted urban structure was then compared with proposed development plan. With certain limitations arising from available data, the model is effective in predicting possible urban scenarios and providing valuable inputs to support better decision making for sustainable development of Colombo city. The results demonstrated in this study would be useful in modelling urban growth in other cities and further validate the efficacy of the proposed workflow.

Coupling Analysis of the Thermal Landscape and Environmental Carrying Capacity of Urban Expansion in Beijing (China) over the Past 35 Years

In this study, we aim to carry out a coupling analysis of the thermal landscape and environmental carrying capacity of urban expansion in Beijing over the past 35 years to provide scientific grounding for city planning. The paper proposes a conceptual framework and develops an integrated quantitative approach to the coupling analysis between urban expansion, the urban ecological environment, and the urban landscape, including the Urban Eco-Environment Carrying Capacity Index (ECI), Landscape Spatial Structure Index, Landscape Thermal Index (LTI), and Transitional Landscape Index (TLI, Markov Chain Model). Urban expansion has been essentially dominated by policy adjustments and has been further influenced by socioeconomic development, which has contributed to four outbreaks of urban sprawl in Beijing. Urban expansion is an essential factor affecting ecological environment change. The Olympic Games in 2008 was the turning point for the urban landscape. The rate of urban expansion and improvement of the ecological landscape all changed significantly around the year 2008. The urban thermal distribution pattern coincided well with the featured landscape patches, representing an obvious reflection of the difference between urban green spaces and construction, while high-temperature areas were abundant in the urban center. Urban expansion has a positive effect on the ecological environment and landscape pattern when it is fully matured and well planned. It is expected that, by 2025, the ecological environment of Beijing will be significantly improved, and the proportion of high-temperature areas will decrease.

ANÁLISE DA ESTRUTURA ESPACIAL DA PAISAGEM A PARTIR DA PROPOSIÇÃO DE CENÁRIOS DE RESTAURAÇÃO FLORESTAL EM UMA MICROBACIA HIDROGRÁFICA NA AMAZÔNIA MATO-GROSSENSE: ANALYSIS OF THE LANDSCAPE FRAGMENTATION THROUGH THE PROPOSITION OF FOREST RESTORATION SCENARIOS IN A MICROBASIN IN AMAZONIA, MATO GROSSO

The State of Mato Grosso presents a high degree of deforestation due to the historical process of occupation of the territory. Deforestation and fragmentation of habitats in tropical regions results in an agromosaic composed of forest remnants in an anthropized matrix, being essential restoration actions in order to reestablish the connectivity between fragments in the landscape. The objective of this work was to evaluate changes in the landscape spatial structure of a watershed in the municipality of Carlinda (MT). We established seven scenarios associated with the presence of agroforestry systems (SAF) and forest restoration of Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and surrounding water reservoirs, quantifying land uses and coverage and employing landscape metrics for the quantitative assessment of the scenarios. The restoration of APP and reservoirs resulted in the creation of corridors and increase of connectance between riparian fragments, while the SAF behaved as stepping stones in the landscape, contributing to the reduction of isolation and increase the proximity between fragments in the agricultural matrix. By jointly assessing the employed metrics, the scenario that reconciles SAF and riparian restoration beyond that required by current environmental legislation showed the greatest potential for increasing structural connectivity in the landscape.

Dispersal ability, trophic position and body size mediate species turnover processes: Insights from a multi‐taxa and multi‐scale approach

AbstractAimDespite increasing interest in β‐diversity, that is the spatial and temporal turnover of species, the mechanisms underlying species turnover at different spatial scales are not fully understood, although they likely differ among different functional groups. We investigated the relative importance of dispersal limitations and the environmental filtering caused by vegetation for local, multi‐taxa forest communities differing in their dispersal ability, trophic position and body size.LocationTemperate forests in five regions across Germany.MethodsIn the inter‐region analysis, the independent and shared effects of the regional spatial structure (regional species pool), landscape spatial structure (dispersal limitation) and environmental factors on species turnover were quantified with a 1‐ha grain across 11 functional groups in up to 495 plots by variation partitioning. In the intra‐region analysis, the relative importance of three environmental factors related to vegetation (herb and tree layer composition and forest physiognomy) and spatial structure for species turnover was determined.ResultsIn the inter‐region analysis, over half of the explained variation in community composition (23% of the total explained 35%) was explained by the shared effects of several factors, indicative of spatially structured environmental filtering. Among the independent effects, environmental factors were the strongest on average over 11 groups, but the importance of landscape spatial structure increased for less dispersive functional groups. In the intra‐region analysis, the independent effect of plant species composition had a stronger influence on species turnover than forest physiognomy, but the relative importance of the latter increased with increasing trophic position and body size.Main conclusionsOur study revealed that the mechanisms structuring assemblage composition are associated with the traits of functional groups. Hence, conservation frameworks targeting biodiversity of multiple groups should cover both environmental and biogeographical gradients. Within regions, forest management can enhance β‐diversity particularly by diversifying tree species composition and forest physiognomy.

Landscape patterns of ocelot–vehicle collision sites

Road networks can negatively impact wildlife populations through habitat fragmentation, decreased landscape connectivity, and wildlife-vehicle collisions, thereby influencing the spatial ecology and population dynamics of imperiled species. The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is a federally endangered wild felid in South Texas, with a high mortality rate linked to vehicle collisions. Using a multi-scale approach, we quantified and examined landscape spatial structure at ocelot roadkill locations, and between roadkill locations of male and female ocelots. We quantified the spatial distribution of land cover types at 26 ocelot–vehicle collision sites in South Texas that occurred from 1984–2017. We compared landscape metrics of woody, herbaceous, and bare ground cover types across multiple spatial scales at roadkill locations to those from random road locations, and between male and female ocelots. Roadkill sites consisted of 13–20% more woody cover than random locations. Woody patches at roadkill sites were 7.1–11% larger (2.4 ha) closer to roads and spaced 10–16 m closer together farther away from roads compared to random locations. Percent woody cover was the best indicator of ocelot–vehicle collision sites; there were no differences in woody cover between male and female road mortality locations. These findings suggest that ocelots are likely struck by vehicles while crossing between habitat patches. Roads that bisect areas of woody cover have negative impacts on ocelots by increasing habitat fragmentation and vulnerability to vehicle collisions. Crossing structures should be placed in areas with ≥ 30% woody cover and 3.5 ha woody patches.