From the analyses, it can be concluded that the problem is complex and that simple solutions can be misleading. No major problem was encountered by the different teams in the study. Neither availability and compatibility of data nor computation time were a limiting factor, even when dealing with complete European coverage. The minimum polygon size of 25ha is rather large when compared with the average European agricultural field size. This results in an overall underestimation of the diversity of those landscapes that are shaped by agriculture.
Artefacts have to be identified and carefully eliminated.
This could lead to an underestimation of fragmentation for some regions. The analysis of changes requires particular attention. These areas should be handled accordingly when assessing landscape diversity in Europe. A better understanding of the composition of heterogeneous agricultural areas is needed for assessing rural landscape diversity. The size of the observation unit used for calculations is not neutral.