Mean Patch Research Articles

The Ecosystem Services Value Change and Its Driving Forces Responding to Spatio-Temporal Process of Landscape Pattern in the Co-Urbanized Area

The development of urbanization is still expanding on the earth, and the rapid expansion of cities has changed the regional landscape pattern and significantly affected the value of regional ecosystem services in developing countries such as China. Zhongmu County, as the core area of Zhengzhou-Kaifeng integration, studying the temporal and spatial transformations of its landscape pattern and ecosystem service value (ESV) is of great significance to the region’s sustainable development. Based on remote sensing images and socioeconomic data, this study aims to explore the landscape pattern of Zhongmu County from 2005 to 2018 and its impact on ESV. Research methods include an ESV equivalent factor method, landscape pattern index, spatial autocorrelation, and other methods. The results showed that: (1) During the study period, the patch density and shape complexity, landscape diversity, and fragmentation of the overall landscape in the study area continued to increase while landscape connectivity decreased. (2) The total amount of ESV increased by 10.05 million USD; ESV had certain differences in spatial distribution: high-value clusters were mainly located at the boundary of the Yellow River in the north, while low-value clusters had a significant eastward expansion trend. (3) ESV increased significantly in areas where cultivated land was transferred to waters and forests, and ESV in areas where waters transferred to construction land and cultivated land was significantly reduced. (4) ESV had a significant positive spatial correlation with patch density, edge density, mean patch fractal dimension, mean patch size, and the landscape shape index, and a spatially negative correlation with the contagion index and cohesion index. The spatial and temporal changes in landscape patterns and ESV were all mainly driven by the regional development “Zhengzhou-Kaifeng integration” policy. Therefore, the ESV can be improved, and the ecological security of the urban integration area can be guaranteed through policy measures such as optimizing the layout of construction land and adjusting the uniform distribution of green areas by the land-use policy.

Dealing with the crisis : The Brexit Spin

The professionalization of the political class has led to the emergence of key actors in public relations: the so-called “spin doctors”. Frank Esser offers the following definition: “‘spin doctor’ is an amalgam of ‘spin’, meaning the interpretation or slant placed on events (which is a sporting metaphor, referring to the spin a pool player puts on a cue ball), and ‘doctor’, derived from the figurative uses of the word to mean patch up, piece together, and falsify”. Through catchphrases and soundbites, they help candidates present their ideas in the best light possible. As political parties have become brands, the importance of those special advisers has grown, with the rise of powerful figures such as Peter Mandelson, Alistair Campbell or more recently Dominic Cummings. The marketing strategy developed over the past few decades has reinforced a feeling of distrust in politicians and a clear resentment towards the London elite. Far from undermining the role of spin doctors, it seems that the Brexit crisis has strengthened their positions. This paper analyses the influence of spin doctors on Prime Ministers during the Brexit debate, from the referendum campaign in 2016 to the delivery of Brexit in early 2020. Because the first role of spin doctors is to enhance the image of their candidate, we will focus on key moments when the incumbent Prime Minister was in the front line: the 2016 referendum campaign and the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

Effects of Urbanization on Landscape Patterns in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Region

The middle reaches of the Yangtze River region (MRYRR) are China’s first trans-regional urban agglomeration, located in the center of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The MRYRR is an important ecological reserve, and its land cover changes are affected by both socio-economic development and geographical environment. In this paper, Landsat ETM/TM/OLI remote sensing images were used to monitor land use and landscape patterns from 1990 to 2015. Through supervised classification, land use transfer matrix, landscape pattern metrics and correlation analysis, the spatial-temporal patterns of land use change and its relationship with socio-economic in the study area were revealed. The results showed that: (1) the main land use types in the study area were cropland (CL) and forestland (FL), accounting for more than three-quarters of the study area. During the study period, built-up land (BL) increased, CL decreased, FL increased first and then decreased; (2) the BL expanded mainly by occupying CL and FL, and regional landscape pattern was gradually fragmented, with complex patch shape and increasing diversity and heterogeneity. Among them, the BL is gradually gathered, and the FL and CL are gradually fragmented; (3) in the past 25 years, the urbanization process in this region has been obvious, and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 36 times. The socioeconomic variables were positively correlated with BL, orchard (OL) and Shannon diversity index (SHID), and negatively correlated with CL, Wasteland (WL), mean patch size (MPS) and contagion size (CONTAG). The results showed that the urbanization development has a great impact on the region, and the ecological protection task is still challenging. It is necessary to protect high-quality cropland and draw a red line for ecological protection. We should strengthen the construction of ecological corridors and ecological nodes to adapt to regional sustainable development.

Urban wetland fragmentation and ecosystem service assessment using integrated machine learning algorithm and spatial landscape analysis

Dynamics of ecosystem service value (ESV) of various wetlands has been assessed by researchers globally. But the impact of spatio-temporal variation of landscape metrics on ESV in the lower Gangetic plains has not been examined, fully. The present work has established linkages between landscape metrics and ESV in Kolkata urban agglomeration using support vector machine and multivariate regression analysis. Result indicates that wetland area has been reduced by 5.26%, 13.67% and 9.03% during the periods 1990–2000, 2000–2010 and 2010–2020, respectively and the ESV contributed by wetlands has been decreased by $131428, $323674 and $184649, respectively during the same period at an annual rate of 0.85%. Number of patches, mean patch area and edge density are the main determinants of wetland fragmentation and decreased by 44.12%, 10.23% and 8.65%, respectively during the last three decades. A wetland restoration strategy based on dynamic restoration, reactive restoration and wetland creation for the study area has been formulated, which can guide for sustainable management of wetland resources in Kolkata urban agglomeration.

Identifying ecosystem states with patterns of ecosystem service bundles

Identifying the state of an ecosystem and any changes in its state can help in detecting critical ecosystem transitions and formulating adaptive measures to reduce losses of ecosystem services. Such efforts are important for regional sustainability. In this study, we propose a new perspective by identifying grassland ecosystem states as patterns of ecosystem service bundles. The total annual provisioning of five key grassland ecosystem services in Xilin Gol, including net primary productivity, soil conservation, soil erosion by wind, water yield, and water retention, was estimated from 2001 to 2014. The ecosystem service bundle in each pixel was represented by the ecosystem services, which accounted for 75% of the total ecosystem services after the values of the five ecosystem services for that pixel were ranked in descending order. Then, we selected the four main ecosystem service bundles that covered 99% of the area of Xilin Gol and analyzed their patterns, characterized by landscape indices, from 2001 to 2014. Finally, the influences of precipitation, temperature, solar radiation, and vegetation coverage on the patterns of ecosystem service bundles were explored through stepwise regression. The results showed that vegetation coverage greatly affected the patterns of ecosystem service bundles and promoted the shape complexity and diversity of the bundle patches. The main factors affecting bundle diversity were precipitation in meadow steppes, vegetation coverage and temperature in typical steppes, and temperature in desert steppes. Moreover, the ranges of the landscape indices mean patch size and area-weighted mean fractal dimension fluctuated greatly in ecosystems with lower stability. The results of this study confirmed the hypothesis that patterns in ecosystem service bundles can reflect ecosystem states and indicated that changes in ecosystem service bundle patterns can be used as early warnings of critical transitions in ecosystems.

The return of the elephants: How two groups of dispersing elephants attracted the attention of billions and what can we learn from their behavior

The return of the elephants: How two groups of dispersing elephants attracted the attention of billions and what can we learn from their behavior

Revisiting the cooling effects of urban greening: Planning implications of vegetation types and spatial configuration

While it is well recognised that increasing vegetation cover reduces the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect in cities, less is understood about the spatial pattern of vegetation type required to maximise cooling benefits. This study examines how different urban vegetation spatial configuration and composition impact on the UHI phenomenon. We investigated this on a set of sites in Metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. Urban vegetation raster data at 20 cm resolution was used to define five height-based vegetation cover types (grass, shrub, small, medium and large trees); and to calculate eight landscape metrics: percentage of landscape (PLAND), mean patch area (AREA_MN), patch density (PD), edge density (ED), mean patch shape index (SHAPE_MN), mean Euclidean nearest-neighbour distance (ENN_MN), Shannon’s diversity index (SHDI) and Landscape shape index (LSI). These vegetation landscape metrics of vegetation types were established as independent variables and statistically analysed with the UHI intensity as the dependent variable using Classification and Regression Tree analysis (CRT). The CRT model was developed based on 6469 records and including depth of 5, 41 nodes and 21 terminal nodes. From the total 43 independent variables, 11 were identified as high impact factors on UHI intensity. Our findings revealed a consistent negative statistical relationship between UHI intensity and PLAND-landscape, PLAND-large tree and PLAND-medium tree across the study sites. The PLAND, ED and AREA_MN were the most prevalent metrics to explain UHI effect, which has also principally demonstrated the joint impact of the three metrics on UHI effect. This study presents a new framework of a fine-scale assessment and modelling for the impact of urban vegetation on UHI; and elaborates a practical approach of using CRT technique to design local-based UHI mitigating strategies taking advantage of different vegetation structure.

Spatial and temporal changes of urban forest in Jeli, Kelantan

The rapid growth of urban development in a country affects vegetation and ecosystem area. Nowadays, Jeli was facing the fact of losing its forest cover that had been a substitute with other purposes such as plantation and development. Therefore, this study was conducted to classify the land use change of Jeli and analyze the urban forest changes of Jeli in year 1994, 2006 and 2018. In this study, three satellite images of the study area in year 1994, 2006 and 2018 were processed and analyzed using Remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS). The landscape patterns were analyzed using landscape metrics that were calculated by FRAGSTATS software. The analysis showed that the largest patch index (LPI) of Jeli in 2006 is higher, with 66.32% compared to the year 1994 (60.86%) and 2018 (65.44%). The mean patch area (MPA) decreases throughout the year with 5.96 ha, 4.27 ha and 3.97 ha, respectively. The higher of LPI and increase of MPS indicating that the patches is become fragmented. Moreover, the Euclidean nearest neighbor (ENN) value increased from year 2006 to year 2018, from 93.91 m to 109.42 m indicating that the distance patches is increased. The ANOVA test conducted within ENN and AREA’s value shows that the ENN value of year 1994 is more significant (p < 0.05) compared to year 2006 and 2018. Oppositely, the AREA’s value was found significant for year 2006 and 2018. The results show that the green cover class was increased through years due to the changes of land use purpose where the land use such as vegetation and cleared land classes were replaced with green cover. The outcomes from this study can be used to construct and improve a new and existing landscape planning by the decision-makers, stakeholders and sustainable planners.

Restoration recommendations for mitigating habitat fragmentation of a river corridor

Flow discharge and anthropogenic activities influence the composition and configuration of habitat patches in river ecosystems. Understanding the response of habitat landscapes and the corresponding fish habitat quality is crucial for river management. We investigated the reaction of fish habitat suitability and variant flow discharge performance in examining aquatic habitat patch fragmentation. The hydraulic simulation and fish habitat calculation were used to determine the flow characteristics, habitat conditions, and river landscapes. FRAGSTATS was applied to explore the composition and configuration of habitat patches. Cluster analysis and logistic regression were employed to compute the spatiotemporal variabilities of riverscape indices and establish the relationship between riverscape attributes and fish habitat quality. The results indicate that the changes in specific habitat features are associated with the riverscape indices of total edge (TE), mean nearest-neighbor distance (MNN), interspersion and juxtaposition index (IJI), mean patch size (MPS), and area-weighted mean patch fractal dimension (AWMPFD). The flow discharge is the key to determining habitat fragmentation in rivers, with natural barriers occurring at low flow. In contrast, weirs are anthropogenic obstacles that have significant adverse effects on the downstream corridor. A priority restoration activity to conserve river habitat is to create refuge pools during dry seasons by modifying channel morphology. The positive correlation between habitat suitability and MPS and the negative relationship between habitat suitability and AWMPFD highlight the patch size and shape complexity that are critical indices for pool creation. The prediction of the landscape attributes of the outcomes under different scenarios could support the decision-making in river management. The innovative integrated method presented in this study provides a solid foundation and supports the implementation of nature-based solutions for sustainable river management.

Evaluation of proximal sensing technologies for mapping bovine urine patches under grazing pastures

Animal urine patches, particularly bovine, are the major source of gaseous and leaching losses of nitrogen (N) in livestock-grazed pastoral systems. One method of mitigating these losses is the application of N inhibitors to patches that slow down the N transformations, thus allowing more time for plant uptake. If inhibitors can be applied as spot-treatments, then the overall volume of chemical can be minimized without compromising inhibitor efficacy. To enable this, accurate and reliable methods of detecting patches within hours of deposition are required. In this study, we aimed to validate the output of the newly developed and modified instrument ‘Spikey-R’ for detecting and mapping urine patches via measurement of soil surface electrical conductivity with the aim of using these data for targeting in-situ spot treatment of detected patches. We compared measurements from Spikey-R against thermal imagery from a handheld camera taken during urine deposition, as well as imagery taken from a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS or ‘drone’) 2 weeks after deposition. Wetted areas, as a result of urine application, across all sites were 0.2–0.3 m2 (1 L urine), 0.3–0.5 m2 (2 L), and 0.3–0.8 m2 (3 L). Spikey-R data generally compared well with the reference map produced from the thermal imagery, with slightly larger mean patch areas that still fell within the bounds of uncertainty. Repeat Spikey-R runs over the same patches showed no significant difference in detected areas up to 48 h after application. The drone was successful in detecting most urine patches 14 days post-application and identified a much larger pasture response (average > 150% larger again) than the initial wetted area with sizes ranging from 0.4 to 0.7 m2 (1 L), to 0.5 to 1.1 m2 (2 L), to 0.5 to 1.5 m2 (3 L). Spikey-R proved to be an effective tool in a research setting; advantages and disadvantages of each technology are discussed in detail.

Deforestation and fragmentation trends of seasonal dry tropical forest in Ecuador: impact on conservation

BackgroundFragmentation and deforestation are one of the greatest threats to forests, and these processes are of even more concern in the tropics, where the seasonal dry forest is possibly one of the most threatened ecosystems with the least remaining surface area.MethodsThe deforestation and fragmentation patterns that had occurred in Ecuadorian seasonal dry forests between 1990 and 2018 were verified, while geographic information systems and land cover shapes provided by the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment were employed to classify and evaluate three types of seasonal dry forests: deciduous, semi-deciduous, and transition. The study area was tessellated into 10 km2 hexagons, in which six fragmentation parameters were measured: number of patches, mean patch size, median patch size, total edge, edge density and reticular fragmentation index (RFI). The RFI was also measured both outside and inside protected natural areas (unprotected, national protected areas and protected forest). Moreover, the areas with the best and worst conservation status, connectivity and risk of disappearance values were identified by means of a Getis-Ord Gi* statistical analysis.ResultsThe deforestation of seasonal dry forests affected 27.04% of the original surface area still remaining in 1990, with an annual deforestation rate of − 1.12% between 1990 and 2018. The RFI has increased by 11.61% as a result of the fact that small fragments of forest have tended to disappear, while the large fragments have been fragmented into smaller ones. The semi-deciduous forest had the highest levels of fragmentation in 2018. The three categories of protection had significantly different levels of fragmentation, with lower RFI values in national protected areas and greater values in protected forests.ConclusionsThe seasonal dry forest is fragmenting, deforesting and disappearing in some areas. An increased protection and conservation of the Ecuadorian seasonal dry forest is, therefore, necessary owing to the fact that not all protection measures have been effective.

Different effects of human settlements changes on landscape fragmentation in China: Evidence from grid cell

Exploring how human settlement expansion affects landscape fragmentation is particularly critical to understanding the complex interactions between human activities and landscape functions, patterns, and processes. Here, we use recently developed built-up data and land use data to characterize this effect and its spatial–temporal heterogeneity between 1975 and 2014 in China based on the grids at the national level. Findings suggest that the mean built-up ratio has enlarged three-fold in the past 40 years. The landscape pattern has become increasingly fragmented. Due to anthropogenic encroachment, human settlement expansion has become directly associated with natural habitat loss. Meanwhile, the swift growth of settlements leads to landscape fragmentation with a snowballing number of patches and reducing mean patch size. However, landscape isolation is negatively correlated with settlement expansion. Contrary to traditional perception, the influence of settlement growth on landscape fragmentation in large cities is not as pronounced as that of small and medium cities. Furthermore, there are significant regional differences and gradient effects in the impact of settlement expansion on landscape fragmentation. Specifically, this impact is most intense in western China, followed by central China, and the weakest in eastern China. Several innovative policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Class and landscape level habitat fragmentation analysis in the Bale mountains national park, southeastern Ethiopia

The changes of natural habitat structure and function due to human interference is hastening worldwide, and it is compulsory to preserve biological resources in a protected system. This study aims to measure the landscape ecological structure and the extent of habitat fragmentation in the Bale mountains national park. The land use/land cover change was determined by interpreting the 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2017 Landsat images with ArcGIS 10.3, and the selected landscape structural metrics was analyzed using FRAGSTATS 4.2.1. All land cover classes showed a declining trend, except the farmland, and grassland depicted the highest area reduction. From 1985 to 2017 grassland, Erica, forestland, and afro-alpine were decreased by 9.36 %, 0.26 %, 0.06 %, and 0.01 %, respectively. Whereas, farmland was increased by 43.67 %. The study area was characterized as progressively fragmented since it was signified by the escalated value of patch number (40.22 %), area-weighted mean shape index (18.84 %), and edge density (22.27 %) and a declined value of mean patch size (28.68 %) and core area (10.60 %) over the study period. Considering this result, there was a high loss in area available for core dependent species, particularly for Mountain nyala in the grasslands and woodlands, Ethiopian wolf in afro-alpine regions, and Bale monkey in the bamboo forest. Both forestland and grassland need a conservation priority since these habitats were the most fragmented and habitat lost area.

Impact of landscape pattern changes on hydrological ecosystem services in the Beressa watershed of the Blue Nile Basin in Ethiopia

Landscape pattern changes are mostly due to human activities, and such changes often affect ecosystem functions and services. This study was conducted to evaluate the response of hydrological ecosystem services (HESs) to structural landscape changes. Spatiotemporal changes in two specific HES indicators, water yield (WY) and sediment export (SE), were quantified by analyzing historic (1972–2017) and projected land use/land cover changes (2017–2047). The Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) Model was used for this purpose. Results indicated that WY and SE changed significantly (p ˂ 0.01) during the study period. The total WY and SE increased by 30.29% and 98.69%, respectively, between 1972 and 2017. Analysis of the projections for the next three decades (2017–2047) suggested an increase in WY and SE by 4.8% and 93.11%, respectively. Furthermore, results revealed that WY and SE are strongly influenced by landscape composition, and metrics such as percentage of landscape (PLAND), mean patch size (MPS), and large patch index (LPI) of farmland and plantations were found to be key factors affecting HESs degradation in the Beressa watershed. PLAND (VIP = 1.34; w = 0.55; and VIP = 1.32; w = 0.56) and MPS (VIP = 1.32; w = 0.50 and VIP = 1.31; w = 0.56)) of farmland cover contributed most to the changes in WY and SE, respectively. Similarly, PLAND (VIP = 1.33; w = 0.54 and VIP = 1.28; w = 0.52), LPI (VIP = 1.27; w = 0.52 and VIP = 1.30; w = 0.54) and MPS (VIP = 1.29; w = 0.52) of plantation cover also contributed more to the change in WY and SE. Besides that, of anthropogenic factors, compositions of natural vegetation and grassland cover were found to heavily influence HESs in the watershed studied. The findings of the study suggest that soil and water conservation interventions are vital to minimize and control water-related problems and enhance ESs.

Monitoring the Structure of Regenerating Vegetation Using Drone-Based Digital Aerial Photogrammetry

Measures of vegetation structure are often key within ecological restoration monitoring programs because a change in structure is rapidly identifiable, measurements are straightforward, and structure is often a good surrogate for species composition. This paper investigates the use of drone-based digital aerial photogrammetry (DAP) for the characterization of the structure of regenerating vegetation as well as the ability to inform restoration programs through spatial arrangement assessment. We used cluster analysis on five DAP-derived metrics to classify vegetation structure into seven classes across three sites of ongoing restoration since linear disturbances in 2005, 2009, and 2014 in temperate and boreal coniferous forests in Alberta, Canada. The spatial arrangement of structure classes was assessed using land cover maps, mean patch size, and measures of local spatial association. We observed DAP heights of short-stature vegetation were consistently underestimated, but strong correlations (rs &gt; 0.75) with field height were found for juvenile trees, shrubs, and perennials. Metrics of height and canopy complexity allowed for the extraction of relatively tall and complex vegetation structures, whereas canopy cover and height variability metrics enabled the classification of the shortest vegetation structures. We found that the boreal site disturbed in 2009 had the highest cover of classes associated with complex vegetation structures. This included early regenerative (22%) and taller (13.2%) wood-like structures as well as structures representative of tall graminoid and perennial vegetation (15.3%), which also showed the highest patchiness. The developed tools provide large-scale maps of the structure, enabling the identification and assessment of vegetational patterns, which is challenging based on traditional field sampling that requires pre-defined location-based hypotheses. The approach can serve as a basis for the evaluation of specialized restoration objectives as well as objectives tailored towards processes of ecological succession, and support prioritization of future inspections and mitigation measures.

Assessment of Tuscany Landscape Structure According to the Regional Landscape Plan Partition

The landscape is considered a strategic asset by the Tuscan regional government, also for its economic role, meaning that a specific Landscape Plan has been developed, dividing the region into 20 Landscape Units and representing the main planning instrument at the regional level. Following the aims of the Landscape Plan and the guidelines of the European Landscape Convention, it is necessary to develop an adequate assessment of the landscape, evaluating the main typologies and their characteristics. The aim of this research is to carry out an assessment of the landscape diversity in Tuscany based on 20 study areas, analyzing land uses and landscape mosaic structures through the application of landscape metrics: number of land uses, mean patch size (MPS), Hill’s diversity number, edge density (ED), patch density (PD), land use diversity (LUD). The results highlight a correlation between the landscape typologies (forest, agricultural, mixed, periurban) and the complexity of the landscape structure, especially in relation to MPS and PD, while the combination of PD and LUD calculated on the basis of a hexagonal grid allows obtaining landscape complexity maps. Despite the phenomena of reforestation and urban sprawl of recent decades, Tuscany still preserves different landscape typologies characterized by a good level of complexity. This is particularly evident in mixed landscapes, while agricultural landscapes have a larger variability because of different historical land organization forms. The methodology applied in this study provided a large amount of data about land uses and the landscape mosaic structure and complexity and proved to be effective in assessing the landscape structure and in creating a database that can represent a baseline for future monitoring.

Patch isolation and periodic environmental disturbances have idiosyncratic effects on local and regional population variabilities in meta-food chains

While habitat loss is a known key driver of biodiversity decline, the impact of other landscape properties, such as patch isolation, is far less clear. When patch isolation is low, species may benefit from a broader range of foraging opportunities, but are at the same time adversely affected by higher predation pressure from mobile predators. Although previous approaches have successfully linked such effects to biodiversity, their impact on local and metapopulation dynamics has largely been ignored. Since population dynamics may also be affected by environmental disturbances that temporally change the degree of patch isolation, such as periodic changes in habitat availability, accurate assessment of its link with isolation is highly challenging. To analyze the effect of patch isolation on the population dynamics on different spatial scales, we simulate a three-species meta-food chain on complex networks of habitat patches and assess the average variability of local populations and metapopulations, as well as the level of synchronization among patches. To evaluate the impact of periodic environmental disturbances, we contrast simulations of static landscapes with simulations of dynamic landscapes in which 30 percent of the patches periodically become unavailable as habitat. We find that increasing mean patch isolation often leads to more asynchronous population dynamics, depending on the parameterization of the food chain. However, local population variability also increases due to indirect effects of increased dispersal mortality at high mean patch isolation, consequently destabilizing metapopulation dynamics and increasing extinction risk. In dynamic landscapes, periodic changes of patch availability on a timescale much slower than ecological interactions often fully synchronize the dynamics. Further, these changes not only increase the variability of local populations and metapopulations, but also mostly overrule the effects of mean patch isolation. This may explain the often small and inconclusive impact of mean patch isolation in natural ecosystems.

Remote sensing and GIS forest landscape assessment for sustainable forest management

This study set out to assess the dynamic characteristics of the Ikere forest reserve landscape between 1985 and 2017 using remote sensing data and spatial metrics. Landscape of the study area maintained complex patterns of spatial heterogeneity over the years. Forest cover loss to other land cover types results in new large non-forest area at increasing rate. As at the year 2017, the changes in land cover types were not yet at equilibrium, thus the need to determine the future forest cover extent using a three-way markov Chain model. The decrease in number of patches of forest land (NumP) with increase in its mean patch size (MPS) shows that the forest is becoming a single unit probably due to clearing of existing patches of forest trees. The decrease in class diversity and evenness (SDI and SEI) of the general landscape over the years strengthens this assertion. The findings of this study would be very helpful to government and other stakeholders responsible for ensuring sustainable forest and general environment.&#x0D; Keyword: Landscape, Spatial metrics, sustainable forest and Environment

Prescribed fire shrub consumption in a Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest

Live shrubs in forest understories pose a challenge for mitigating wildfire risk with prescribed fire. Factors driving shrub consumption in prescribed fires are variable and difficult to explain. This study investigated spatial patterns and drivers of Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest shrub consumption in prescribed fires through analysis of high-resolution imagery taken before and after prescribed fire. We applied a spatially explicit, generalized additive model to assess tree cover and coarse woody material as potential drivers of shrub consumption. Shrub cover in two experimental stands prior to burning was 38% and 59% and was 36% and 45% one-year post-burn. In both stands shrub patch density increased, while area-weighted mean patch size and largest patch index decreased. Increased local percent cover of coarse woody material was associated with increased shrub consumption. These findings provide information for prescribed fire managers to help better anticipate shrub consumption and patchiness outcomes under similar conditions.

On Landscape Patterns in Typical Mountainous Counties Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River in China.

The landscape patterns of plantations (PT) are the results of human disturbances on local vegetation, and in turn, differ greatly from natural forests (NF), since the patterns strongly influence the natural circulation of material and energy. There is a need to understand the differences of landscape patterns between PT and NF, to establish a near natural afforestation strategy. This study chose three typical silvicultural counties in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River as the research areas and compared the landscape patterns of NF and PT, with other land use types (grassland, GL; cropland, CL; shrubland, SL; orchard, OR; built-up land, BUL; bare land, BL; and water bodies, WB). The results revealed that the areas of PT accounted for 7.67%, 12.05%, and 18.97% of three counties, bigger than GL, OC, BUL, BL, and WB, as one of main land use types. The landscape patterns of PT (mean patch size between 2.06 to 6.05 ha) were more fragmented than NF (mean patch size between 5.83 to 53.91 ha). NF areas increased along the relative altitude gradient, from 0 to 2500 m, while PT areas peaked from 100–1000 m. The higher the altitude, the more typical the zonal distribution of PT, the more aggregated the NF. NF had significant negative correlations with BL, BUL, CL, PT, GL, and OC, which suggest that human activities had seriously interfered with NF. Although PT as an ecological protection strategy was increasing, the landscape patterns of PT were obviously different from NF. This may affect the material energy flow in the ecological environment. The results in the present study have great implications in the other regions in China and the relevant parts of the world where natural forests were heavily disturbed.