Forest Area Change in the Shifting Landscape Mosaic of the Continental United States from 2001 to 2016

Kurt Riitters,Jennifer Costanza,Karen Schleeweis

doi:10.3390/land9110417

Kurt Riitters, Jennifer Costanza + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/land9110417

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Abstract

The landscape context (i.e., anthropogenic setting) of forest change partly determines the social-ecological outcomes of the change. Furthermore, forest change occurs within, is constrained by, and contributes to a dynamic landscape context. We illustrate how information about local landscape context can be incorporated into regional assessments of forest area change. We examined the status and change of forest area in the continental United States from 2001 to 2016, quantifying landscape context by using a landscape mosaic classification that describes the dominance and interface (i.e., juxtaposition) of developed and agriculture land in relation to forest and other land. The mosaic class changed for five percent of total land area and three percent of total forest area. The least stable classes were those comprising the developed interface. Forest loss rates were highest in developed-dominated landscapes, but the forest area in those landscapes increased by 18 percent as the expansion of developed landscapes assimilated more forest area than was lost from earlier developed landscapes. Conversely, forest loss rates were lowest in agriculture-dominated landscapes where there was a net loss of five percent of forest area, even as the area of those landscapes also increased. Exposure of all land to nearby forest removal, fire, and stress was highest in natural-dominated landscapes, while exposure to nearby increases in developed and agriculture land was highest in developed- and agriculture-dominated landscapes. We discuss applications of our approach for mapping, monitoring, and modeling landscape and land use change.

Highlights

The importance of forest and landscape changes are well-documented in the ecology and land use literature
Forest loss due to land use conversion from forest to agriculture or urban land persists longer than other forest area changes, and such conversions are smaller in total area, they are pervasive and locally important where they occur [6,7]
Net forest loss was only 2.6% of the original forest area, but total forest change was equivalent to 11.0% of the original forest area, indicating substantial potential for changes of forest area in relation to the landscape mosaic

Summary

Introduction

The importance of forest and landscape changes are well-documented in the ecology and land use literature. Masek et al [1] reported a loss of 0.9% of forest area per year from 1990 to 2000, with local rates approaching 3% per year. While climate change likely plays a role in forest loss [4], pervasive forestry operations appear to be the primary driver of forest change over most of the CONUS, with secondary drivers (e.g., insects, diseases, fire) affecting an increasing area of forest over time [1,3,5,6]. Forest loss due to land use conversion from forest to agriculture or urban land persists longer than other forest area changes, and such conversions are smaller in total area, they are pervasive and locally important where they occur [6,7]

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