1. Key indicators of different components of the ecosystem are selected following conceptual pressure-state-response models, ensuring there interrelation
2. Monitoring of the different variables is spatially nested.

example from recent research:

"Landscape Monitoring is the main topic of the The Pan European Forum for Countryside and Landscape Monitoring (ECOLAND), with a own working group "Ecoland Forum" which is incorporated into the framework of IALE (International Association for Landscape Ecology). 

The overall objective of ECOLAND is to create a structure for the production of 1 km² sites for the monitoring will be selected following a stratified random sampling procedure, based on a European classification, recently constructed by Alterra. That classification starts from available climate and altitude data, using remote sensing algorithms to classify all the squares at a 1 km square level. An adapted EUNIS habitat classification can be used in the monitoring programme, ensuring an easy exchange of data with other databases relevant for European nature policies.

At least the following variables will be monitored:

• land cover, as EUNIS Habitat Classification and qualified by species information
• landscape structure, using proven GIS technology as well as field records
• vegetation, as species data for vascular plants
• land use management
• fauna, as a selection of species based on results of other European research projects.

During international meetings and fieldwork sessions, methodologies and results were discussed and experiences gained within the national projects were exchanged intensively. Late 2002, a 5^th Framework Concerted Action, BioHab, will start, aimed at producing integrated tools for habitat description as a base for a European wide monitoring. 

Thus today, because of previous investments by national governments and of coming European support, ECOLAND can develop a financially-viable methodology for the collection and analysis of scientifically sound figures for a European countryside nature conservation policy. " Source

Projects in relation to landscape monitoring:

• NTEM - Novel Technologies for Environmental Monitoring
• AMAP - Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme
• GEOMON - Global Earth observation and monitoring
• GEOLAND2 - Towards an operational GMES land monitoring core service
• AgriEnv CIS - Agri-Environmental Indicators Core Information Service
• EnvEurope - Environmental quality and pressures assessment across Europe: the LTER network as an integrated and shared system for ecosystem monitoring
• EBONE - European Biodiversity Observation Network: design of a plan for an integrated biodiversity observing system in space and time

Important pubblication in relation to landscape monitoring:

• Syrbe, R.-U. et al. (2007): A framework for monitoring landscape functions: The Saxon Academy Landscape Monitoring Approach (SALMA), exemplified by soil investigations in the Kleine Spree floodplain (Saxony, Germany)