Conservación de la conectividad del paisaje forestal bajo diferentes escenarios de cambio en las cubiertas del suelo

Managing forest landscapes to sustain functional connectivity is considered one of the key strategies to counteract the negative effects of climate and human-induced changes in forest species pools. With this objective, we evaluated whether a robust network of forest connecting elements can be identified so that it remains efficient when facing different types of potential land cover changes that may affect forest habitat networks and ecological fluxes. For this purpose we considered changes both in the forested areas and in the non-forest intervening landscape matrix. We combined some of the most recent developments in graph theory with models of land cover permeability and least-cost analysis through the forest landscape. We focused on a case of study covering the habitat of a forestdwelling bird (nuthatch, Sitta europaea) in the region of Galicia (NW Spain). Seven land-use change scenarios were analysed for their effects on connecting forest elements (patches and links): one was the simplest case in which the landscape is represented as a binary forest/non-forest pattern (and where matrix heterogeneity is disregarded), four scenarios in which forest lands were converted to other cover types (to scrubland due to wildfires, to extensive and intensive agriculture, and to urban areas), and two scenarios that only involved changes in the non-forested matrix (renaturalization and intensification). Our results show that while the network of connecting elements for the species was very robust to the conversion of the forest habitat patches to different cover types, the different change scenarios in the landscape matrix could more significantly weaken its long-term validity and effectiveness. This is particularly the case when most of the key connectivity providers for the nuthatch are located outside the protected areas or public forests in Galicia, where biodiversity-friendly measures might be more easily implemented. We discuss how the methodology can be applied to a wide range of forest landscape management situations, where both the conservation of the forest critical areas and an adequate management of the landscape matrix between them are of concern to achieve the sustainability of the ecological flows and ecosystem services at the wider forest landscape scale.La gestión de los bosques para mantener la conectividad ecológica se considera una de las estrategias clave para contrarrestar los efectos negativos provocados por el cambio climático y de los usos del suelo sobre las especies forestales. Con este objetivo, en este estudio evaluamos la posibilidad de identificar una red de elementos conectores forestales que sea robusta y eficiente ante cambios potenciales en las cubiertas del suelo que puedan afectar a las redes landde hábitats forestales y a los flujos ecológicos entre ellos. Para ello, consideramos cambios tanto en las áreas de bosque como en la matriz no arbolada del paisaje. Combinamos algunos desarrollos recientes en teoría de grafos con modelos de permeabilidad del paisaje forestal y análisis de mínimo coste. Centramos nuestro caso de estudio en el hábitat de un ave forestal (trepador azul, Sitta europaea) en Galicia (NO España). Analizamos siete escenarios de cambios de uso del suelo según sus efectos en los elementos conectores (teselas y enlaces): uno (el caso más simple) en el que el paisaje se representó como un patrón binario de bosque/no bosque (sin considerar la heterogeneidad de la matriz), cuatro escenarios en los que las teselas de bosque se transformaron en otros tipos de cubierta del suelo (matorral debido a incendios, agricultura extensiva e intensiva y zonas urbanas), y dos escenarios en los que los cambios se produjeron tan solo en la matriz no arbolada (renaturalización e intensificación). Nuestros resultados muestran que a pesar de que la red de elementos conectores para esta especie fue eficiente frente a la conversión de las teselas de hábitat forestal en diferentes tipos de cubierta, los cambios en la matriz del paisaje podrían debilitar considerablemente su validez y eficacia a largo plazo. Este es especialmente el caso dado que la mayor parte de los elementos conectores clave para el trepador azul están localizados fuera de las zonas protegidas o de los montes de utilidad pública en Galicia, donde las medidas para la conservación de la biodiversidad forestal podrían implementarse con mayor facilidad. Discutimos cómo esta metodología puede aplicarse en un amplio rango de escenarios de gestión del paisaje forestal, en los que tanto la conservación de las teselas de hábitat forestal críticas como un manejo adecuado de la matriz situada entre las mismas son de interés para conseguir la sostenibilidad de los flujos ecológicos y de los servicios de los ecosistemas en las escalas amplias en las que operan dichos procesos

Use of National Forest Inventories to Downscale European Forest Diversity Spatial Information in Five Test Areas, Covering Different Geo-Physical and Geo-Botanical Conditions

The project ¿Use of National Forest Inventories to downscale European forest diversity spatial information in five test areas, covering different geo-physical and geo-botanical conditions¿, referred also as ¿forest downscaling¿ (JRC contract 382340 F1SC) covers one of the seven topics that have been studied in the frame of the Regulation (EC) 2152/2003 on the monitoring of forest and environmental interactions, the so-called "Forest Focus" Regulation. This study was conducted by a European consortium coordinated by the Italian Academy of Forest Sciences (Italy) and included partners from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Institute of Forest Ecosystem Research of the Czech Republic, the German Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products, and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research. The overall supervision of the project and the processing of forest spatial pattern were done by the Joint Research Centre. This study addressed the link between field based forest biological diversity data and landscape-level forest pattern information. The former were made available from National Forest Inventories (NFIs) at plot level in five different countries; their harmonisation was implemented for the first time and benefited from outcomes of the COST Action-E43 on core biodiversity variables. For the latter, landscape level forest spatial pattern maps were automatically derived from available remote sensing based forest cover maps. The relation-ships between selected pattern and biodiversity variables available from the two different data sources were studied. Seven case studies for a total area of about 100,000 km2 were selected in five European ecological regions: one site in Germany (Atlantic zone), one in Sweden (Boreal zone), two in Czech Republic (Continental zone), one in Switzerland (Alpine zone) and two in Italy (Mediterranean zone).JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard

Assessing the role of EO in biodiversity monitoring: options for integrating in-situ observations with EO within the context of the EBONE concept

The European Biodiversity Observation Network (EBONE) is a European contribution on terrestrial monitoring to GEO BON, the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network. EBONE’s aims are to develop a system of biodiversity observation at regional, national and European levels by assessing existing approaches in terms of their validity and applicability starting in Europe, then expanding to regions in Africa. The objective of EBONE is to deliver: 1. A sound scientific basis for the production of statistical estimates of stock and change of key indicators; 2. The development of a system for estimating past changes and forecasting and testing policy options and management strategies for threatened ecosystems and species; 3. A proposal for a cost-effective biodiversity monitoring system. There is a consensus that Earth Observation (EO) has a role to play in monitoring biodiversity. With its capacity to observe detailed spatial patterns and variability across large areas at regular intervals, our instinct suggests that EO could deliver the type of spatial and temporal coverage that is beyond reach with in-situ efforts. Furthermore, when considering the emerging networks of in-situ observations, the prospect of enhancing the quality of the information whilst reducing cost through integration is compelling. This report gives a realistic assessment of the role of EO in biodiversity monitoring and the options for integrating in-situ observations with EO within the context of the EBONE concept (cfr. EBONE-ID1.4). The assessment is mainly based on a set of targeted pilot studies. Building on this assessment, the report then presents a series of recommendations on the best options for using EO in an effective, consistent and sustainable biodiversity monitoring scheme. The issues that we faced were many: 1. Integration can be interpreted in different ways. One possible interpretation is: the combined use of independent data sets to deliver a different but improved data set; another is: the use of one data set to complement another dataset. 2. The targeted improvement will vary with stakeholder group: some will seek for more efficiency, others for more reliable estimates (accuracy and/or precision); others for more detail in space and/or time or more of everything. 3. Integration requires a link between the datasets (EO and in-situ). The strength of the link between reflected electromagnetic radiation and the habitats and their biodiversity observed in-situ is function of many variables, for example: the spatial scale of the observations; timing of the observations; the adopted nomenclature for classification; the complexity of the landscape in terms of composition, spatial structure and the physical environment; the habitat and land cover types under consideration. 4. The type of the EO data available varies (function of e.g. budget, size and location of region, cloudiness, national and/or international investment in airborne campaigns or space technology) which determines its capability to deliver the required output. EO and in-situ could be combined in different ways, depending on the type of integration we wanted to achieve and the targeted improvement. We aimed for an improvement in accuracy (i.e. the reduction in error of our indicator estimate calculated for an environmental zone). Furthermore, EO would also provide the spatial patterns for correlated in-situ data. EBONE in its initial development, focused on three main indicators covering: (i) the extent and change of habitats of European interest in the context of a general habitat assessment; (ii) abundance and distribution of selected species (birds, butterflies and plants); and (iii) fragmentation of natural and semi-natural areas. For habitat extent, we decided that it did not matter how in-situ was integrated with EO as long as we could demonstrate that acceptable accuracies could be achieved and the precision could consistently be improved. The nomenclature used to map habitats in-situ was the General Habitat Classification. We considered the following options where the EO and in-situ play different roles: using in-situ samples to re-calibrate a habitat map independently derived from EO; improving the accuracy of in-situ sampled habitat statistics, by post-stratification with correlated EO data; and using in-situ samples to train the classification of EO data into habitat types where the EO data delivers full coverage or a larger number of samples. For some of the above cases we also considered the impact that the sampling strategy employed to deliver the samples would have on the accuracy and precision achieved. Restricted access to European wide species data prevented work on the indicator ‘abundance and distribution of species’. With respect to the indicator ‘fragmentation’, we investigated ways of delivering EO derived measures of habitat patterns that are meaningful to sampled in-situ observations

Habitat landscape pattern and connectivity indices : used at varying spatial scales for harmonized reporting in the EBONE project

This study is motivated by biodiversity related policy information needs on ecosystem fragmentation and connectivity. The aim is to propose standardized and repeatable methods to characterize ecosystem landscape structure in a harmonized way at varying spatial scales and thematic resolutions (habitat in situ versus land cover satellite based observations). Habitat landscape pattern was assessed in terms of configuration, interface mosaic context and structural/functional connectivity on the basis of three available conceptual models (morphological analysis, landscape composition moving window, network graph theory) that were customized, automated and partly combined. Input data were from the EBONE General Habitat Categories maps available over sixty 1 km2 in-situ samples at fine scale (400 m2 Minimum Mapping Unit). Demonstration focused on the focal forest phanerophyte habitat. Forest spatial pattern, edge interfaces and connectivity related maps and indices were obtained for all samples, and then reported per European Environmental Zones. A prototype web-based mapping client (http://forest.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ebone) was also developed to view and query the map layers and indices. Finally, the same models and indices were applied to the satellite based European and regional land cover maps available at broad (25 ha MMU) and medium (1ha MMU) scales. Differences in patterns across the three scales were highlighted over the only common 1 km2 analysis unit. Further, the satellite based patterns were reported at the more suitable fixed area grid of 25 km x 25 km. The overlay with the 1 km2 in situ habitat pattern enabled to inform the macro-scale landscape structure context of the squares and compare with their micro-scale pattern. Such study should be repeated to study spatio-temporal patterns relationships across scales once multi-temporal and larger in situ dataset will be available

Development of a composite index of urban compactness for land use modelling applications

This paper introduces a composite index to characterise urban expansion patterns based on four associated indices that describe the degree of compactness of urban land: nuclearity, ribbon development, leapfrogging and branching processes. Subsequently, principal component and cluster analysis are applied to build the composite index. Two baseline scenarios and three hypothetical policy alternatives, run from 2000 to 2030 using the pan-European EU-ClueScanner 1 km resolution land use model are then used to test the sensitivity and robustness of the composite index in large urban zones (LUZs). The second part of the paper is dedicated to the spatial analysis of a subset of large urban zones with the largest area growth in all the model runs for the year 2030. The landscape context of all built-up land in the year 2000 is analysed for the newly created urban land. It is characterised according to the proportion of natural, agricultural, built-up areas within a 7 km radius. A stepwise multiple regression analysis relating the landscape mosaic types and the composite index allowed us to understand whether or not the landscape surrounding the existing urban cores acts as the driving force responsible for the more “successful” policy alternatives in terms of urban compactness. Modellers may consider the landscape mosaic as one possible proxy to determine which urban areas are more likely to have less compact urban expansion patterns for scenarios with an increase in land claims for built-up areas.JRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard

RESEARCH ARTICLE Neutral model analysis of landscape patterns

from mathematical morpholog