Abstract
Landscapes are complex objects often showing self-similar properties. For example, some power law exponents and fractal dimensions have been extensively used as global metrics for describing spatial arrangements of landscape land covers. This paper presents some newly found invariance properties for rural landscapes, with the hope to prepare further theory capable to link these properties mechanistically with generating processes. For this purpose, I propose a new surface-pattern analysis computing heterogeneity metrics into moving windows in a specific way. This generic method provides Multiscale Heterogeneity Maps (MHMs) and Heterogeneity Profiles (HPs) of almost any kind of landscape. Six landscapes, covering a wide range of observed mosaics have been analyzed by this way: four of them exhibit strong self-similar evenness (diversity) heterogeneity over two orders of magnitude with an apparent universality of the power law exponents (γ = −0.19 ± 0.02). Such landscape self-organization is interpreted in terms of spatial arrangements of numerous land covers and fine scale patchy mosaics. This study suggests that most of terrestrial landscapes could exhibit power law behaviors in terms of evenness heterogeneity and could be the result of a hidden optimization of ecological and/or socio-economic processes.