The existing pattern in the landscape whose characteristics are filtered by constraints of scale and resolution (in space and time) of the reception system. Technically, this system is defined by physical sensors; the human version is called visual perception (Bartel (2000) Ecol. Model. 130, 1–3). Landscape ecology seeks to associate ecological processes with landscape pattern (Griffith et al. (2002) Sing. J. Trop. Geog. 23, 1). See Lü et al. (2007) PPG 31, 6 on the interactions between landscape pattern and nutrient transport processes. Misclassification can cause large errors in landscape pattern indices (Foody (2007) PPG 31, 4). See Li and Wu, in J. Wu and R. Hobbs, eds (2007).