BOOK REVIEW Landscape ecology in Asian cultures: a book review S.K. Hong, J. Wu, J.E. Kim, N. Nakagoshi (eds), Landscape ecology in Asian cultures. Springer, Tokyo. 1st Edition, 2011, XVIII, 334 pp. 100 illus., 1 in color. Hardcover, ISBN 978-4-431-87798-1, US $189 Janet Silbernagel Received: 23 December 2011 / Accepted: 9 January 2012 / Published online: 14 February 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 ‘‘During the two decades of the 1980 and 1990 s, landscape ecology swept through North America like a storm, was rejuvenated in Europe, and reached out to other parts of the world, including Asia and Austra- lia,’’ (Wu, chapter 20). This book captures the current scope and essence of landscape ecological work across Asia, demonstrating the keen interest in understanding the unique characteristics of Asian cultural landscapes and in applying concepts of landscape ecology to planning and sustainability across diverse countries. Landscape ecology in Asian cultures is an edited compilation of 20 chapters organized into three parts. Part I, ‘‘Understanding Asian cultural landscapes,’’ offers a set of descriptive characterizations of 10 different cultural landscapes in Japan, Korea, Malay- sia, Iran, Indonesia, and China. The authors describe human influences on vegetation and landscape change, the often long-standing human-nature practices and conflicts, as well as the significance of some as traditional and sacred landscapes. Some chapters focus on pragmatic applications of landscape ecolog- ical and cultural analysis, such as the potential for ecotourism development in Korea’s island and coastal communities (Hong, chapter 2), and the trade-offs between agriculture, tourism, and conservation in East Java (Hakim, chapter 6). Other chapters are devoted to understanding the varied histories and deep-seated traditions of particular landscapes across Asia. For example, Yumoto (chapter 1) provides historical perspectives on human-nature interactions in the Japanese archipelago, while Jiao and Li (chapter 3) analyze harmony and conflicts between Hani culture and nature using field surveys. Still others define and describe sacred landscapes at a variety of locations, including ‘geocultural’ sites in Iran (Azari-Dehkordi, chapter 5), the traditional forests of Korea (Hong and Kim, chapter 7), and finally the rich tradition of Cho- bun, or double-burial, and its relation to landscape impacts in Korea’s Haui Island (Park, chapter 8). Part II, ‘‘Measuring and managing patterns and process of cultural landscapes,’’ provides a series of nine different quantitative applications of landscape ecological science to examine the unique patterns and processes of Asian landscapes. For example, chapter 11 (Bogaert et al.) proposes a methodological frame- work to quantify anthropogenic change and provides a set of tools or indices to best capture this change. Others apply foundational landscape ecological tools (e.g. Fragstats) to analyze factors affecting landscape change at multiple scales on the islands of Japan (Ohta and Nakagoshi, chapter 12) and the attributes of aquatic landscapes affecting bird diversity in Taiwan (Fang, chapter 13). Some discuss more novel approaches, such as a combined 3D photographic and GIS analysis for scenic assessment in Japan (Yamashita, chapter 14). However, few of these J. Silbernagel (&) Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 535706, USA e-mail: jmsilber@wisc.edu 123 Landscape Ecol (2012) 27:775–776 DOI 10.1007/s10980-012-9707-6