The scale and pattern influences on the hedgerow networks’ effect on landscape processes: First considerations about the need to plan for landscape amelioration purposes Available to Purchase

In the last decade we realised several rural landscape amelioration plans (Italy) by means of diffuse reintroduction of agroforestry linear plantations. To this end a GIS decision support system was developed that has been progressively implemented after design problem solutions and field/simulation research. Given that hedgerow (re)introduction could be a means to ameliorate some rural landscape processes, up until today we have reached the conclusion that planning is a necessary way to optimise such a transformation for socio‐economic and intrinsic reasons. Therefore we need to be able to distinguish the effect of the agroforestry systems (mainly hedgerow) among different scales (single planting/landscape) and different patterns (isolated systems/networks) to optimise their positive effects on landscape processes at different scales; and it is not possible to optimise landscape transformations by means of agroforestry network implementation without an action plan able to evaluate them.