Abstract Landscape change in rural ecosystems is a major global issue because they are an important ecological and socio-cultural resource. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the driving forces behind landscape changes. Changes in the patterns and pro- cesses of landscape mosaics and vegetation community in two rural areas (Teokdong-ri, TD and Teokseong-ri, TS) in Korea were studied between 1988 and 2002. Quantitative data of vegetation community, landscape mosaics, and local statistics of the two study areas were analyzed. Agricultural efficiency increased even decreasing household population and the agricultural area. In both areas, as the human dependence on natural resources decreased, the patterns and processes of landscape mosaics and forest structure were changed due to changing human impacts on land use. Owing to the abandonment of forest management for 14 years, the spatial heterogeneity of TD significantly increased more than that of TS. In detrended correspondence analysis ordination, floristic compositions of forest patches of two areas were unevenly located on the ordination axes. Pinus densiflora communities of both areas in 1988 were separately located in 2002 as two directions according to management intensity. The species composition of P. densiflora in one direction of 1988 became similar to those of Quercus forests in 2002. This may be because species composition of P. densiflora has been influenced due to changed habitat environments. Finally, we concluded that the devel- opment of forest communities and vegetation succes- sion predicted the spatial pattern of future landscape mosaics and due to the vegetation dynamics of rural ecosystems in Korea. Keywords Forest management Æ Landscape change Æ Pinus densiflora Æ Rural forest Æ Vegetation dynamics Introduction Landscape is a unified system of man and nature (Naveh and Lieberman 1994). Changes in the mosaic patterns of landscape can be caused by natural and anthropogenic disturbances (Forman 1995). Both driving forces induce new patches of landscape mosaics creating a heterogeneous landscape. The heterogeneity of landscapes influences many ecosystem processes and biological interactions (Turner et al. 2001; Moser et al. 2002). Human impacts on landscape heterogeneity are considerably more intensive than the effects of natural disturbances (Baker 1995). They are also able to change natural ecosystems into man-mediated ecosys- tems in the short-term. Rural landscapes have been developed by the re- ciprocal relationship between man and nature (von Droste et al. 1995). Spatial patterns of mosaic land- scapes reflect not only human impacts, but also natural disturbances on multi-scales (Hong et al. 1993; Golley Nomenclature: Miyawaki et al. (1994), Lee (1993), and Lee (1998) for identifying plant species. J.-E. Kim (&) Æ N. Nakagoshi Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8529, Japan e-mail: ecokimje@yahoo.co.kr S.-K. Hong Institute of Islands Culture, Mokpo National University, 61 Dorim-Ri, Cheonggy-Myeon, Muan-Gun, Jeonnam 534-729, South Korea Landscape Ecol Eng (2006) 2:177–195 DOI 10.1007/s11355-006-0001-0 123 ORIGINAL PAPER Changes in patch mosaics and vegetation structure of rural forested landscapes under shifting human impacts in South Korea Jae-Eun Kim Æ Sun-Kee Hong Æ Nobukazu Nakagoshi Received: 3 March 2005 / Revised: 26 December 2005 / Accepted: 2 June 2006 / Published online: 8 September 2006 Ó International Consortium of Landscape and Ecological Engineering and Springer-Verlag Tokyo 2006