Machine learning in landscape ecological analysis: a review of recent approaches

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly developed over the past several decades. Several related AI approaches, such as Machine Learning (ML), have been applied to research on landscape patterns and ecological processes. Our goal was to review the methods of AI, particularly ML, used in studies related to landscape ecology and the main topics addressed. We aimed to assess the trend in the number of ML papers and the methods used therein, and provide a synopsis and prospectus of current use and future applications of ML in landscape ecology. We conducted a systematic literature search and selected 125 papers for review. These were examined and scored according to multiple criteria regarding methods and topic. We applied quantitative statistical methods, including cluster analysis based on titles, abstracts, and keywords and a non-metric multidimensional scaling based on attributes assigned during the review. We used Random Forests machine learning to describe the differences between identified clusters in terms of the topics and methods they included. The most frequent method found was Random Forests, but it is noteworthy to mention the increasing popularity of tools related to Deep Learning. The topics cover both ecologically oriented issues and the landscape-human interface. There has been a rapid increase in ML and AI methods in landscape ecology research, with Deep Learning and complex multi-step pipeline AI methods emerging in the last several years. The rapid increase in the number of ML papers in landscape ecology research, and the range of methods employed in them, suggest explosive growth in application of these methods in landscape ecology. The increase of Deep Learning approaches in the most recent years suggest a major change in analytical paradigms and methodologies that we feel may transform the field and enable analyses of more complex pattern process relationships across vaster data sets than has been possible previously.