ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 takes us to the future, which is bright for remote sensing and landscape ecology, both by summarizing key themes that thread through the various case studies in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, along with a sober look at the reality of the constraints of project development, in such a way as to catalyze ideas and creativity in the reader’s application of the information and planning for their project concerns. Recommendations as to the most useful and practical applications of landscape metrics for specific future needs in landscape ecological analyses are proposed, and future approaches are matched with the potential success for developing new metrics, with a hopeful eye toward new remote sensing platforms, data, GIS approaches, and the paradigms of the future, including an analysis of the potential for integration of the concepts and practice of “ecosystem services” into landscape ecological projects, leveraging the rich data sets that have emanated from the remote sensing science community.
