The quantification and classification of aquatic landscape structure

The impact of the spatial organization and heterogeneity of resources on ecological processes has received greater attention recently in the fields of fisheries, landscape ecology, and geography. Tools that aid in quantifying the arrangement of resources, or landscape structure, include GIS and spatial statistics, along with a landscape ecology approach. The landscape ecology approach and spatial metrics are applied here to acoustic data of fish distribution and temperature to test the presence of landscape structure within the aquatic environment. Through this research, it has been determined that the arrangement of features within the water column exhibits a landscape structure that changes with time of day. The differentiation of aquatic landscapes based on a system of spatial metrics identifies specific biological and physical characteristics that distinguish one landscape type from another. Aquatic landscapes are quantified and classified in ecological terms, facilitating the exploration of the spatial arrangement of resources and the impact of that organization on ecological processes.