Landscape ecology is the study of the two-way interactions between spatial pattern and ecological processes occur on landscapes. Landscape-scale analyses are often used to inform policy implementation.

Two types of spatial autocorrelation are highly related to landscape ecology. If the patterns develop as a result of a response to an environmental factor–such as soil, slope position, water bodies–it is referred to as a first-order process. The study of the first-order process is where GIS comes into play. If the patterns develop as a result of interactions between the objects/events themselves–such as contagious diseases, dispersal/diffusion limitations–it is referred to as a second-order process.

There are four types of processes, namely abiotic factors, biotic factors, human disturbances, and natural disturbances. All of which create and maintain heterogeneity in the form (spatial pattern) independently or jointly by creating local uniqueness, phase differences, and dispersal. These patterns can be quantified using landscape composition metrics or different measures of spatial configurations such as proximity index and connectivity.