Status and trend analysis in landscape pattern through field-based sampling data

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Forest Resource Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden

Abstract

Traditionally, calculation of landscape metrics is commonly conducted on land cover/use maps of entire landscape which is created from remotely sensed data. An interesting approach, however, is to make use of sample data, without the use of wall-to-wall mapping. In the present review and case study, it is aimed to estimate three basic landscape metrics, namely Shannon’s diversity (SH), forest edge length (E) and contagion (C) from field-based sampling data. It is also intended to estimate landscape change using time series datasets. Estimated variance (sampling error) was used to assess landscape metric estimators. For this purpose, sampling data from National Inventory in the Landscape of Sweden (NILS) is used. In this case study, the metrics are estimated with acceptable precision. In most cases, the estimated variance (sampling error) was less than 10 %. The largest sampling error was 28 % for forest edge length. We will be able to compare different landscape at a given time or a landscape over time using filed-based sampling data. Furthermore, in an ecological survey it may be possible to find a relationship between landscape pattern and ecological processes such as biodiversity. The methods applied in this study is very simple and there is no need for extra measurements.

Keywords


Arroyo-Rodríguez, V, González-Perez, I, Garmendia, A,  Solà, M & Estrada, A 2013, The relative impact of forest patch and landscape attributes on black howler monkey populations in the fragmented Lacandona rainforest, Mexico. Landscape Ecology, 28: 1717-1727.
Barbati, A, Corona, P & Marchetti M 2007, A forest typology for monitoring sustainable forest management: The case of European forest types. Plant Biosystems, 141: 93-103.

Barabesi, L, Fattorini, L, Marcheselli, M, Pisani, C, Pratelli, L 2015, The estimation of diversity indexes by using stratified allocations of plots, points or transects. Environmetrics, 26: 202-215.

Bebber, DP,WG, Cole, SC, Thomas Balsillie, D & Duinker, P 2005, Effects of retention harvests on structure of old-growth Pinus strobus L. stands in Ontario. Forest Ecology and Management, 205: 91-103.
Benitez-Malvido, J & M Martinez-Ramos 2003, Impact of forest fragmentation on understory plant species richness in Amazonia. Conservation Biology, 17: 389-400.
Berndes, G., Hoogwijk, M., & Van den Broek, R 2003, The contribution of biomass in the future global energy supply: a review of 17 studies. Biomass and Bioenergy, 25: 1-28.
Bunnell, FL 1997, Operational criteria for sustainable forestry: focussing on the essence. Forestry Chronicle, 73: 679-684.
Cochran, G 1977, Sampling techniques. New York: Wiley. 428 p.
Copeland, JH, Pielke, RA & Kittel, TGF 1996, Potential climatic impacts of vegetation change: A regional modeling study. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 101: 7409-7418.
Corona, P, Chirici, G, McRoberts, RE, Winter, S & Barbati, A 2011, Contribution of large-scale forest inventories to biodiversity assessment and monitoring. Forest Ecology and Management, 262: 2061-2069.
Corona, P, Chirici, G & Travaglini, D 2004, Forest ecotone survey by line intersect sampling. Canadian Journal of Forest Research-Revue Canadienne De Recherche Forestiere, 34: 1776-1783.
Corona, P, Barbati, A, Tomao, A, Bertani, R, Valentini, R, Marchetti, M, Fattorini, L & Perugini, L 2017, Land use inventory as framework for environmental accounting: An application in Italy. iForest – Biogeosciences and Forestry, 5: 204-209.

Corona, P, Fattorini, L, Franceschi, S, Marcheselli, M, Pisani, C Chiavetta, U & Puletti, N 2018, Estimating tree diversity in forest ecosystems by two‐phase inventories. Environmetrics, 30: 2502-2509.

Dramstad , E, Fjellstad, WJ, Strand, GH, Mathiesen, HF, Engan, G  & Stokland, JN 2002, Development and implementation of the Norwegian monitoring programme for agricultural landscapes. Journal of Environmental Management, 64: 49-63.

Fattorini, L, Marcheselli, M, Pisani, C, Pratelli, C 2017, Design-based asymptotics for two-phase sampling strategies in environmental surveys. Biometrika, 104: 195-205.

Fridman, J, Holm, S, Nilsson, M, Nilsson, P, Ringvall, A & Ståhl, G 2014, Adapting National Forest Inventories to changing requirements - The case of the Swedish National Forest Inventory at the turn of the 20th century. Silva Fennica, 48: 1-29.
Forman, RTT 1995,  Land mosaics: the ecology of landscapes and regions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Frohn, RC, McGwire, KC, Dale, VH & Estes, JE 1996, Using satellite remote sensing analysis to evaluate a socio-economic and ecological model of deforestation in Rondonia, Brazil. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 17: 3233-3255.
Geri, F, Amici, V & Rocchini, D 2010, Human activity impact on the heterogeneity of a Mediterranean landscape. Applied Geography, 30: 370-379.
Gregoire, TG & Valentine, HT 2008, Sampling strategies for natural resources and the environment. Boca Raton, Fla. London: Chapman & Hall/CRC.
Haines-Young, R 2005, Landscape pattern: context and process. In: Issues and perspectives in landscape ecology, JA wiens & M Moss (eds.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hanski, I 2005, Landscape fragmentation, biodiversity loss and the societal response - The longterm consequences of our use of natural resources may be surprising and unpleasant. Embo Reports, 6: 388-392.
Hargis, CD, Bissonette, JA & David, JL 1998, The behavior of landscape metrics commonly used in the study of habitat fragmentation. Landscape Ecology, 13: 167-186.
Harper, KA, MacDonald, SE, Burton, PJ, Chen, JQ, Brosofske, KD, Saunders, SC, Euskirchen, ES, Roberts, D, Jaiteh, MS, Esseen, P-A 2005, Edge influence on forest structure and composition in fragmented landscapes. Conservation Biology, 19: 768-782.
Hassett, EM, Stehman, SV & Wickham, JD 2011, Estimating landscape pattern metrics from a sample of land cover. Landscape Ecology, 27: 133-149.
Hunsaker, CT, O'Neill, RV, Jackson, BL, Timmins, SP, Levine, DA & Norton, DJ 1994, Sampling to characterize landscape pattern. Landscape Ecology, 9: 207-226.
Ji, W, Ma, J, Twibell, RW & Underhill, K 2006, Characterizing urban sprawl using multi-stage remote sensing images and landscape metrics. Computers Environment and Urban Systems, 30: 861-879.
Kleinn, C 2000, Estimating metrics of forest spatial pattern from large area forest inventory cluster samples. Forest Science, 46: 548-557.
Kolström, M Lindner, M Vilén, T Maroschek, M Seidl, R Lexer, M Netherer, Kremer, A Delzon, S Barbati, A Marchetti, M & Corona, P 2011, Reviewing the science and implementation of climate chang adaptation measures in european forestry. Forests, 2: 961-982.
Krummel, JR, Gardner, RH, Sugihara, G, O’Neill, RV & Coleman, OR 1987, Landscape pattern in a disturbed environment. Oikos, 48: 321-324.
Laurance, WF, Delamônica, P, Laurance, SG, Vasconcelos, HL, Lovejoy, TE 2000, Conservation: Rainforest fragmentation kills big trees. Nature, 404: 836.
Li, Y C 2008, Land cover dynamic changes in northern China: 1989-2003. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 18: 85-94.
Lister, A, Riemann, R, Lister, T, & McWilliams, W 2005, Northeastern regional forest fragmentation Assessment: rationale, methods, and comparisons with other studies. Proceeding of the 5th Annual Forest Inventory and Analysis Syposim; 2003 November 18-20; New Orleans, LA. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-69. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculature Forest service. 222 p.
Lister, A, Lister, T, Weber, T 2019, Semi-automated sample-based forest degradation monitoring with   photointerpretation of high-resolution imagery. Forests, 10: 896.
Matérn, B 1964, A method of estimating the total length of roads by means of line survey. Studia forestalia Suecica, 18: 68-70.
McGarigal, K, Cushman, SA, Neel, MC & Ene, E 1995, FRAGSTATS: spatial pattern analysis program for categorical maps, version 4.0.
McKendry, P 2002, Energy production from biomass (part 1): Overview of biomass. Bioresource Technology, 83: 37-46.
Ramezani, H. & Holm, S 2012, A distance dependent contagion functions for vector-based data. Environmental and Ecological Statistics, 19: 161-181.
Ramezani, H Ramezani, F 2015, Potential for wider application of national forest inventories- to estimate monitoring landscape metric contagion. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 187: 116-124.
Ramezani, H, Holm, S, Allard, A, & Ståhl, G 2010, Monitoring landscape metrics by point sampling: accuracy in estimating Shannon’s diversity and edge density. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 164: 403-421.
Ramezani, H, Holm, S, Allard, A, & Ståhl, G 2013, A review of sampling based approaches for estimating landscape metrics. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography, 67: 61-71.
Ramezani, H, Svensson, J & Esseen, P-A 2011, Landscape environmental monitoring: Sample based versus complete mapping approaches in aerial photographs: In Environmental Monitoring, E, Ekunayo (Ed.), Chp. 13, pp: 205-218. In Tech.
Ramezani, H 2019, An assessment of landscape diversity using large scale field-based forest inventory. Caspian Journal of  Environmental Sciences, 17: 121-130.
Riitters, KH, O’Neill, RV, Hunsaker, CT, Wickham, JD, Yankee, DH, Timmins, SP, Jones, KB & Jackson, B L 1995, A factor-analysis of landscape pattern and structure metrics. Landscape Ecology, 10: 23-39.
Schuft, MJ, Moser, TJ, Wigington, PJ, Stevens, DL, McAllister, LS, Chapman, SS  & Ernst, T L 1999, Development of landscape metrics for characterizing riparian-stream networks. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 65: 1157-1167.
Schumaker, NH 1996, Using landscape indices to predict habitat connectivity. Ecology, 77: 1210-1225.
Stehman, SV, Sohl, TL & Loveland, TR 2003, Statistical sampling to characterize recent United States land-cover change. Remote Sensing of Environment, 86: 517-529.
Ståhl, G, Allard, A, Esseen, PA, Glimskär, A, Ringvall, A, Svensson, J, Sture Sundquist, S, Christensen, P, Gallegos Torell, Å, Högström, M, Lagerqvist, K, Marklund, L, Nilsson, B & Inghe, O 2011, National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden (NILS) - Scope, design, and experiences from establishing a multi-scale biodiversity monitoring system. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 173: 579-595.
Shapiro, AC, Aguilar-Amuchastegui,N, Hostert, P, Bastin, JF 2016 Using fragmentation to assess degradation of foreste dgesin Democratic Republic of Congo. Carbon Balance Managment, 11: 1-15.
Thompson, SK 2002, Sampling. New York: Wiley, 360 p.
Tinker, DB, Resor, CAC, Beauvais, GP, Kipfmueller, KF, Fernandes, CI & Baker, W L 1998, Watershed analysis of forest fragmentation by clearcuts and roads in a Wyoming forest. Landscape Ecology, 13: 149-165.
Traub, B & Kleinn, C 1999, Measuring fragmentation and structural diversity. Forstwissenschaftliches Centralblatt, 118: 39-50.
Turner, M G 2005, Landscape ecology: What is the state of the science? Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics, 36: 319-344.
van Dorp, D & Opdam, PE 1987, Effects of patch size, isolation and regional abundance on forest bird communities. Landscape Ecology, 1: 59-73.
Wickham, JD, O’Neill, RV, Riitters, KH, Wade, TG & Jones, KB 1997, Sensitivity of selected landscape pattern metrics to land cover misclassification and differences in land cover composition. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 63: 397-402.
With, K, Gardner, H  & Turner, MG 1997, Landscape connectivity and population distributions in heterogeneous environments. Oikos, 78: 151-169.
Zengin, H. Deg˘ermenci, AS, Bettinger, P 2018, Analysis of temporal changes in land cover and landscape metrics of a managed forest in the west Black Sea region of northern Turkey: 1970-2010. Journal of Forestry Research, 1-12.