HOME ENV510 Landscape Ecology and GIS

Definitions & descriptions | Structure & pattern | Function & process | Change & dynamics | Management implications
Processes | Elements | Transformation | Fragmentation | Isolation | Species Effects | Spatial Effects | Microclimate | Forest & Birds | Ecosystem | Other

Spatial effects

The spatial effects of fragmentation can be related to the altered configuration of landscape features. These spatial changes are visible from time series air photos.

Spatial attributes, which increase with fragmentation, include factors like:

• patch density
  
  
• inter-patch distance
  
  
• boundary length
  
  
• stepping stones
  
  
• corridors
  

Also associated with fragmentation is a decrease in:

• patch size
  
  
• connectivity
  
  
• interior to edge ratio
  
  
• maximum size of core and total interior area
  

Factors that can increase, decrease or not change at all as a result of fragmentation include

• patch shape
  
  
• fractal dimension (Forman, 1995).

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