Comparison of spatial resolution of LandSat and SPOT satellite images in measuring landscape fragmentation

Since the foundation of landscape ecology, the correlation between spatial patterns and ecological processes has always been regarded as one of key topics in this discipline. In this context, landscape metrics provide valuable information for the interpretation of landscape patterns. It is clear that the scale of input data and the scale of analysis must be coherent in order to calculate and interpret landscape metrics correctly. One main method that is often used to assess the scaling effects on landscape pattern is to manipulate the grain size or pixel size in satellite images. In this study, The SPOT and LandSat satellite images of 1986 and 2010 and simulations and maps of Markov-cellular automata models of 2020 were used. The effects of spatial resolution on 8 metrics were evaluated using the software FRAGSTATS in class and landscape levels. The results showed that the changes in grain size have significant effects on landscape metrics and their changes in the future so that the increased grain size will lead to the deacreased number of patches (NP), patch density (PD), LSI and CONAG. In general, metrics showed two types of irregular and increase behaviors according to the reduced grain size; in this study, the changes in grain size are more sensitive than the other metrics. So, the application of these metrics in landscape studies shoulde be considerably paid attention.