Abstract
Length-radius dimension of roads is presented to serve as one index of anthropogenic factors on land cover pattern level. We examined land cover patterns across a gradient of road densities, from no roads to heavily roads. Our study area comprised of 636,000 ha in Gunma Prefecture of Japan. An erosion algorithm is developed to be able to calculate length-radius dimension within any arbitrary area. Similar to many other researches, pure road density index is found to have no relationship with landscape patterns, as of forest pattern, forest connectivity, land cover diversity and land cover connectivity. There was a significant strong correlation between the proposed length-radius dimension and those landscape patterns. It suggests us that human-induced impacts indicated by roads could be quantified by length-radius dimension on certain scales.
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