Provides deep insight into the geosystem concept by viewing landscape as a 3D hierarchically organized heterogeneous entity where pattern is shaped by topography and substrate that determine the distribution of matter and energy flows

Presents a multi-pattern view of landscape based not on visually detected patches only, but on several mutually additional approaches such as relief and substrate genesis, unilateral flows of dissolved matter, solid matter or surface water

Describes specific methodologies adapted for studying pattern-process relationship at each level with particular focus on interactions between abiotic environment, soils and plant cover in both radial and lateral aspects

Part I. Theory of Landscape Pattern and Hierarchy.- Chapter 1. Concepts of Landscape Pattern (Alexander V. Khoroshev).- Chapter 2. Polygeosystem Fundamentals of Landscape Science (Alexander K. Cherkashin).- Chapter 3. Multi-pattern (Polystructural) Organization of a Landscape - Geophysical Approach (Vladislav V. Sysuev).- Part II. How Patterns Indicate Actual Processes.- Chapter 4. Representation of Process Development Laws in Morphological Pattern Laws: Approach of the Mathematical Morphology of Landscape (Alexey S. Victorov).- Chapter 5. Transformation of the Chernobyl 137Cs Contamination Patterns at the Microlandscape Level as an Indicator of Stochastic Landscape Organization (Vitaly G. Linnik).- Chapter 6. Determination of the Order Parameters of The Landscape at the Regional Level (Mikhail Yu. Puzachenko).- Chapter 7. Land Cover Thermodynamic Characteristics Defined by Remote Multispectal Data Based on Non-Extensive Statistical Mechanics (Robert B. Sandlersky).- Part III How Patterns Control Actual Processes.- Chapter 8. Structure and Phytomass Production of Coastal Geosystems Near Lake Baikal (Yuliya V. Vanteeva).- Chapter 9. Catena Patterns as a Reflection of Landscape Internal Heterogeneity (Irina A. Avessalomova).- Chapter 10. Structure of Topogeochores and Modern Landscape-Geochemical Processes (Yury M. Semyonov).- Chapter 11. Modeling of Hydrological and Climatic Resources of a Landscape for Sustainable Land Use at Small Watersheds (Alexander A. Yerofeev).- Chapter 12. Influence of the Landscape Structure of Watersheds on the Processes of Surface Water Quality Formation (Case Study of Western Siberia) (Vitaly Yu. Khoroshavin).- Chapter 13. Comparison of Landscape and Floristic Diversity in Plain Catchments at the Level of Elementary Regions (Dmitry V. Zolotov).- Part IV. How Patterns Indicate Genesis and Influence Future Evolution Trends.- Chapter 14. Altitudinal Landscape Complexes of the Central Russian Forest-Steppe (Anatoly S. Gorbunov).- Chapter 15. Landscape Structure as Indicator of Debris Flow and Avalanche Activity in the Russian Caucasus Mountains (Marina N. Petrushina).- Chapter 16. Multiscale Analysis of Landscape Structure (Alexander V. Khoroshev).- Part V. How Patterns Control Dynamic Events.- Chapter 17. Structure and Long-Term Dynamics of Landscape as a Reflection of the Natural Processes and History of Nature Use: the Example of the Northwestern European Russia (Grigorii A. Isachenko).- Chapter 18. Seasonal Dynamics in the Context of Polystructural Organization of Landscapes (on the Example of Sverdlovsk Region) (Olga Yu. Gurevskikh).- Part VI. How Patterns Respond to Climatic and Anthropogenic Changes.- Chapter 19. Dendrochronological Indication of Landscape Spatio-Temporal Organization in the Northern Taiga of West Siberian Plain and Elbrus Region: Astrophysical and Geophysical Drivers of Bioproductivity (Kirill N. Dyakonov).- Chapter 20. Carbon Balance in Forest Ecosystems and Biotic Regulation of Carbon Cycle Under Global Climate Changes (Erland G. Kolomyts).- Chapter 21. Actual Changes of Mountainous Landscapes in Inner Asia as a Result of Anthropogenic Effects (Kirill V. Chistyakov).- Part VII. How Landscape Patterns Affected Land Use in the Past.- Chapter 22. Initial Stages of Anthropogenic Evolution of Landscapes in Russia (Viacheslav A. Nizovtsev).- Chapter 23. How Natural and Positional Factors Influence Land-Use Change During Last 250 Years in Temperate Russia (Victor M. Matasov).- Chapter 24. Landscape Features of the Prehistory of Moscow (Viacheslav A. Nizovtsev).- Chapter 25. GIS-Based Study of Landscape Structure and Land Use Within the River Valleys in the Southern Tomsk Region: Spatial-Temporal Aspects (Vadim V. Khromykh).- Part VIII. How Landscape Patterns Determine Actual Land Use.- Chapter 26. The Development of Territorial Planning and Agrolandscapes Projecting in Russia (Valery I. Kiryushin).- Glossary.