The Institute of Landscape Ecology of SAS relies upon its forty year tradition of biological and ecological research within the frame of wider spatial dimensions, and it leans on the fundamental principles and traditions of the Institute of Landscape Biology of SAS. From its establishment it went through some turbulent periods. The period of preparation (1961 – 1965) – from the establishment of the Department of Landscape Biology in the Institute of Biology of SAS up to the foundation of the Institute of Landscape Biology of SAS. The first period (1965 – 1974) covered the foundation and existence of the Institute of Landscape Biology of SAS. Crystallization and the development of the new scientific orientation was characteristic for this period. The second period (1975 – 1990) was that of closing of three independent scientific institutes: Institute of Landscape Biology of SAS, Institute of Botany of SAS and Institute of Limnology of SAS and their fusion into the newly formed Institute of Experimental Biology and Ecology of SAS. The third period (1990 – 1996) comprised the revival of the former institute as the Institute of Landscape Ecology of SAS. It can be characterized as the search for its new position in the changed political economical situation. The fourth period (1996 – up to the present) involves the existence of the institute in the conditions of market economy. By its interdisciplinary research, the Institute of Landscape Ecology of SAS initiated the development of new trends in different scientific branches connected with landscape-ecological problems.