Local Fractal Connections to Characterize the Spatial Processes of Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Deforestation by human activities is a common issue in Amazonian countries. This occurs at different spatial and temporal scales causing primary forest loss and land fragmentation issues. During the deforestation process as the forest loses connectivity, the deforested patches create new intricate c...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Urgilez-Clavijo, Andrea, Rivas-Tabares, David Andrés, Martín-Sotoca, Juan José, Tarquis Alfonso, Ana María
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8232215/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34198668
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/e23060748
_version_ 1783713589376319488
author Urgilez-Clavijo, Andrea
Rivas-Tabares, David Andrés
Martín-Sotoca, Juan José
Tarquis Alfonso, Ana María
author_facet Urgilez-Clavijo, Andrea
Rivas-Tabares, David Andrés
Martín-Sotoca, Juan José
Tarquis Alfonso, Ana María
author_sort Urgilez-Clavijo, Andrea
collection PubMed
description Deforestation by human activities is a common issue in Amazonian countries. This occurs at different spatial and temporal scales causing primary forest loss and land fragmentation issues. During the deforestation process as the forest loses connectivity, the deforested patches create new intricate connections, which in turn create complex networks. In this study, we analyzed the local connected fractal dimension (LCFD) of the deforestation process in the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (SBR) with two segmentation methods, —CA-wavelet and K-means—to categorize the complexity of deforested patches’ connections and then relate these with the spatial processes. The results showed an agreement with both methods, in which LCFD values below 1 corresponded to isolated patches with simple shapes and those above 1 signified more complex and connected patches. From CA-wavelet a threshold of 1.57 was detected allowing us to identify and discern low and high land transformation, while the threshold for K-means was 1.61. Both values represent the region from which deforestation performs local aggressive expansion networks. The thresholds were used to map the LCFD in which all spatial processes were visually detected. However, the threshold of 1.6 ± 0.03 was more effective in discerning high land transformation. such as shrinkage and attrition, in the deforestation process in the SBR.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8232215
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82322152021-06-26 Local Fractal Connections to Characterize the Spatial Processes of Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon Urgilez-Clavijo, Andrea Rivas-Tabares, David Andrés Martín-Sotoca, Juan José Tarquis Alfonso, Ana María Entropy (Basel) Article Deforestation by human activities is a common issue in Amazonian countries. This occurs at different spatial and temporal scales causing primary forest loss and land fragmentation issues. During the deforestation process as the forest loses connectivity, the deforested patches create new intricate connections, which in turn create complex networks. In this study, we analyzed the local connected fractal dimension (LCFD) of the deforestation process in the Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (SBR) with two segmentation methods, —CA-wavelet and K-means—to categorize the complexity of deforested patches’ connections and then relate these with the spatial processes. The results showed an agreement with both methods, in which LCFD values below 1 corresponded to isolated patches with simple shapes and those above 1 signified more complex and connected patches. From CA-wavelet a threshold of 1.57 was detected allowing us to identify and discern low and high land transformation, while the threshold for K-means was 1.61. Both values represent the region from which deforestation performs local aggressive expansion networks. The thresholds were used to map the LCFD in which all spatial processes were visually detected. However, the threshold of 1.6 ± 0.03 was more effective in discerning high land transformation. such as shrinkage and attrition, in the deforestation process in the SBR. MDPI 2021-06-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8232215/ /pubmed/34198668 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/e23060748 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Urgilez-Clavijo, Andrea
Rivas-Tabares, David Andrés
Martín-Sotoca, Juan José
Tarquis Alfonso, Ana María
Local Fractal Connections to Characterize the Spatial Processes of Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
title Local Fractal Connections to Characterize the Spatial Processes of Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
title_full Local Fractal Connections to Characterize the Spatial Processes of Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
title_fullStr Local Fractal Connections to Characterize the Spatial Processes of Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
title_full_unstemmed Local Fractal Connections to Characterize the Spatial Processes of Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
title_short Local Fractal Connections to Characterize the Spatial Processes of Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
title_sort local fractal connections to characterize the spatial processes of deforestation in the ecuadorian amazon
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8232215/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34198668
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/e23060748
work_keys_str_mv AT urgilezclavijoandrea localfractalconnectionstocharacterizethespatialprocessesofdeforestationintheecuadorianamazon
AT rivastabaresdavidandres localfractalconnectionstocharacterizethespatialprocessesofdeforestationintheecuadorianamazon
AT martinsotocajuanjose localfractalconnectionstocharacterizethespatialprocessesofdeforestationintheecuadorianamazon
AT tarquisalfonsoanamaria localfractalconnectionstocharacterizethespatialprocessesofdeforestationintheecuadorianamazon