Discerning fragmentation dynamics of tropical forest and wetland during reforestation, urban sprawl, and policy shifts.

ABSTRACT: Despite the overall trend of worldwide deforestation over recent decades, reforestation has also been found and is expected in developing countries undergoing fast urbanization and agriculture abandonment. The consequences of reforestation on landscape patterns are seldom addressed in the literature, despite their importance in evaluating biodiversity and ecosystem functions. By analyzing long-term land cover changes in Puerto Rico, a rapidly reforested (6 to 42% during 1940-2000) and urbanized tropical island, we detected significantly different patterns of fragmentation and underlying mechanisms among forests, urban areas, and wetlands. Forest fragmentation is often associated with deforestation. However, we also found significant fragmentation during reforestation. Urban sprawl and subu

SUBMITTER: Gao Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4237398 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature