Final answer:
Changes in vegetation due to human activities like land clearing can significantly alter ecological processes and micro-climates within a landscape, affecting biodiversity and nutrient cycling.
Step-by-step explanation:
Landscape patterns can indeed be influenced by ecological processes. For example, the removal of large tracts of native vegetation can alter physical processes like solar radiation and wind and water flows.
These changes impact the edges of remaining habitat fragments, creating stronger "edge effects." The micro-climate of a forest edge next to cleared land can differ significantly in light, humidity, temperature, and wind speed compared to the forest interior.
Similarly, human activities such as land clearing for agriculture can lead to a decline in habitat fragments, a reduction in their size, increased isolation, and more linear edges, which leads to a higher proportion of "edge" habitat. Ecological processes such as litter decomposition and nutrient cycling can be affected as well, influencing the overall biodiversity of the landscape.