Abstract
Digital elevation model data were used to partition a mountainous landscape (northwestern Montana, USA) into watershed/hillslope terrain units at several different spatial scales. Fractal analysis of the perimeter to area relationships of the resulting partition polygons identified statistical self-similarity across a range of spatial scales (approximately four orders of magnitude in partition area). The fractal dimension was higher for a relatively complex fluvially-dominated terrain than for a structurally simpler glacially-dominated terrain (1.23 vs. 1.02, respectively). The structural self-similarity exhibited by this landscape has direct implications in scaling up ecosystem process models for landscape to regional simulations.
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Lathrop, R.G., Peterson, D.L. Identifying structural self-similarity in mountainous landscapes. Landscape Ecol 6, 233–238 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129701
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129701