Landscape patterns in a disturbed environment

Deciduous forest patterns were evaluated, using fractal analysis, in the U. S. Geological Survey 1: 250,000 Natchez Quadrangle, a region that has experienced relatively recent conversion of forest cover to cropland. A perimeter-area method was used to determine the fractal dimension; the results sho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Oikos Vol. 48; no. 3; pp. 321 - 324
Main Authors:	Krummel, J.R, Gardner, R.H, Sugihara, G, O'Neill, R.V. (Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn. (USA). Environmental Science Division), Coleman, P.R
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Munksgaard International Booksellers and Publishers 01-03-1987 Blackwell
Subjects:	Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology BIOGEOGRAFIA BIOGEOGRAPHIE BIOGEOGRAPHY Biological and medical sciences BOSQUES Deciduous forests DESARROLLO DE TIERRAS DEVELOPPEMENT FONCIER ECOLOGIA ECOLOGIE ECOLOGY ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA ETATS-UNIS FARMLAND Floodplains Forest ecology FORESTS FORET Fractal dimensions Fractals Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Geological surveys Geometric shapes Land cover LAND DEVELOPMENT LAND USE LANDSCAPE Landscapes PAISAJE PAYSAGE SURFACE AGRICOLE UTILE Sustainable agriculture Synecology Terrestrial ecosystems TIERRAS AGRICOLAS USA UTILISATION DU SOL UTILIZACION DE LA TIERRA USA, Mississippi Mississippi United States America Fractal system Forest Hardwood forest tree Spermatophyta Method North America Vegetation structure
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Summary:	Deciduous forest patterns were evaluated, using fractal analysis, in the U. S. Geological Survey 1: 250,000 Natchez Quadrangle, a region that has experienced relatively recent conversion of forest cover to cropland. A perimeter-area method was used to determine the fractal dimension; the results show a different dimension for small compared with large forest patches. This result is probably related to differences in the scale of human versus natural processes that affect this particular forest pattern. By identifying transition zones in the scale at which landscape patterns change this technique shows promise for use in developing hypotheses related to scale-dependent processes and as a simple metric to evaluate changes on the earth's surface using remotely sensed data.
Bibliography:	P01 882006688 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	0030-1299 1600-0706
DOI:	10.2307/3565520