Deriving spatio-temporal profiles of global forest fragmentation and disturbance patterns from the latest globcover datasets

Abstract

Changes in forest fragmentation and disturbance patterns are essential for assessing the effectiveness of forest management approaches and are currently of primary concern for conservation communities. Based on the temporal Globcover datasets for 2005 and 2009, this analysis quantifies and compares forest fragmentation and disturbance patterns in the six inhabitated continents of the world by employing a fragmentation model in concert with geospatial metrics. Results revealed that forest area of the world increased slightly over the time period 2005 to 2009. An accelerated fragmentation was also witnessed. At the analytical scale of 3 by 3 pixels, Australia-Pacific's forests had the severest fragmentation while South-America the least. And, Australia-Pacific's forests had the widest anthropogenic disturbances, followed by Asia and South America. The highest severity of anthropogenic disturbance existed for Australia-Pacific's forests, followed by Africa and South-America in sequence. Generated forest fragmentation and disturbance maps with explicitly spatial implications have provided valuable insights and implications regarding the development of future land use strategies, habitat planning for rare and endangered species, and sustainable forest management. By utilizing them, such as the locations of the interior and perforated components, and identifying areas with high severity of human-induced interference, human can make effective risk assessments and crucial targets for protection and remediation.