| Abstract: | The Norwegian monitoring programme for agricultural landscapes is a sample-based programme that aims to document the current state and patterns of change in the agricultural landscape for the entire country. For this broad geographical coverage an indicator approach is the most cost-effective methodology. Landscape metrics are used as indicators in the monitoring programme based on the assumed importance of landscape composition and spatial pattern for a number of countryside interests. However, although indicators have been used successfully over a long period of time in various disciplines, their use in landscape monitoring is relatively new and there is little empirical data with which to assess their validity. This paper provides information on the performance of landscape diversity and landscape heterogeneity indices as estimated by specific biodiversity measures. Preliminary results show increasing numbers of breeding bird species and numbers of vascular plant species with increasing landscape diversity and heterogeneity, two indices that capture information on landscape content and structure. Overall, the heterogeneity index provided a better surrogate for species richness than the diversity index. |
