The ecological significance of vegetation patterns at alpine treeline affects both landscape structure and function. Structure, particularly spatial structure, can change through fragmentation or homogenization. Functional changes are also observable, with fragmentation affecting wildlife habitat, edge-dependent species, and fire connectivity. Measures of landscape structure and function are also scale dependent. The patterns and processes observed at the alpine treeline ecotone also have a cultural connection in addition to climatically induced influences.
Habitat fragmentation is a common ecological concern with such human activity.
When combined with other data sources, changes observed in photographs can be explained in more detailed, meaningful terms. Therefore, regions of assigned vegetation less than 25-m 2 were reassigned to the surrounding classification. Individual trees, the density of trees, or smaller habitat patches are thus not quantitatively evaluated. Rather, the expansion of habitat patches, through vegetative growth or establishment immediately adjacent to similar vegetation is quantified. The number of patches and edge density are discussed based on visual comparisons of both oblique and aerial photographs.