Recent Deforestation Pattern Changes (2000–2017) in the Central Carpathians: A Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix and Fractal Analysis Approach

Ana-Maria Ciobotaru,Rasmus Fensholt,Ioan-Vlad Loghin,Alexandra Grecu,Cristian-Constantin Drăghici,Ion Andronache,Adrian-Gabriel Simion,Helmut Ahammer,Daniel Peptenatu,Andreea Karina Gruia,Răzvan-Mihail Papuc,Herbert F Jelinek,Marian Marin,Radu-Daniel Pintilii,Roxana-Andreea Radu,Marko Radulovic

doi:10.3390/f10040308

Abstract

The paper explores the distribution of tree cover and deforested areas in the Central Carpathians in the central-east part of Romania, in the context of the anthropogenic forest disturbances and sustainable forest management. The study aims to evaluate the spatiotemporal changes in deforested areas due to human pressure in the Carpathian Mountains, a sensitive biodiverse European ecosystem. We used an analysis of satellite imagery with Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (Landsat-7 ETM+) from the University of Maryland (UMD) Global Forest Change (GFC) dataset. The workflow started with the determination of tree cover and deforested areas from 2000–2017, with an overall accuracy of 97%. For the monitoring of forest dynamics, a Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix analysis (Entropy) and fractal analysis (Fractal Fragmentation-Compaction Index and Tug-of-War Lacunarity) were utilized. The increased fragmentation of tree cover (annually 2000–2017) was demonstrated by the highest values of the Fractal Fragmentation-Compaction Index, a measure of the degree of disorder (Entropy) and heterogeneity (Lacunarity). The principal outcome of the research reveals the dynamics of disturbance of tree cover and deforested areas expressed by the textural and fractal analysis. The results obtained can be used in the future development and adaptation of forestry management policies to ensure sustainable management of exploited forest areas.

Highlights

Forest ecosystems around the world have experienced a great deal of change [1]
The purpose of this paper is to quantify the amount of tree cover and deforested areas and its degree of fragmentation in the Central Carpathians in Romania, with an innovative methodological use of the spatial approaches that provide complementary information to traditional per-pixel deforestation mapping
It turns out that the agreement between the Global Forest Change (GFC) dataset and the is very high with an overall classification accuracy of 97%

Summary

Introduction

Forest ecosystems around the world have experienced a great deal of change [1]. The development of alternative forest management solutions was able to incorporate multiple stakeholder preferences [2]; the importance of ecological forest values primarily influenced the forest management attitude among private forest owners in Sweden [3]. After the collapse of socialism, changes in forest dynamics were recorded, caused by increases in the human population, requiring more arable land for agriculture [6,7], illegal logging or legal wood harvesting [8,9], and even fluctuant changes in forestry legislation [10]. Deforestation causes significant perturbations in the integrity of forest ecosystems. Deforestation may be the result of logging and harvesting practices or can be a permanent conversion to other land uses (i.e., fires, agriculture, and development of human settlements) [22]. According to FAO [23], deforestation represents the loss of forest cover and implies transformation into another land use caused by human or natural perturbations

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