Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Using Multitemporal Landsat ETM+ Imagery to Determine a Sustainable Exploitation Patterns of the Forest Resources in the Moldo-Transylvanian Carpathians - Romania

Ana-Maria Ciobotaru
ORCID logo ,
Ion Andronache
ORCID logo ,
Helmut Ahammer
,
Herbert Jelinek
,
Marko Radulovic
ORCID logo ,
Radu-Daniel Pintilii
ORCID logo ,
Daniel Peptenatu
* ORCID logo ,
Cristian Constantin Draghici
,
Razvan-Mihail Papuc
,
Roxana-Andreea Radu
,
Alexandra Grecu
,
Andreea-Karina Gruia
,
Marian Marin
,
Adrian-Gabriel Simion
ORCID logo ,
Mircea-Cristian Visan
,
Ioan-Vlad Loghin
,
Rasmus Fensholt
ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 18 July 2018 / Approved: 18 July 2018 / Online: 18 July 2018 (15:36:57 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Ciobotaru, A.-M.; Andronache, I.; Ahammer, H.; Jelinek, H.F.; Radulovic, M.; Pintilii, R.-D.; Peptenatu, D.; Drăghici, C.-C.; Simion, A.-G.; Papuc, R.-M.; Marin, M.; Radu, R.-A.; Grecu, A.; Gruia, A.K.; Loghin, I.-V.; Fensholt, R. Recent Deforestation Pattern Changes (2000–2017) in the Central Carpathians: A Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix and Fractal Analysis Approach. Forests 2019, 10, 308. Ciobotaru, A.-M.; Andronache, I.; Ahammer, H.; Jelinek, H.F.; Radulovic, M.; Pintilii, R.-D.; Peptenatu, D.; Drăghici, C.-C.; Simion, A.-G.; Papuc, R.-M.; Marin, M.; Radu, R.-A.; Grecu, A.; Gruia, A.K.; Loghin, I.-V.; Fensholt, R. Recent Deforestation Pattern Changes (2000–2017) in the Central Carpathians: A Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix and Fractal Analysis Approach. Forests 2019, 10, 308.

Abstract

Monitoring the ratio of forested and deforested areas plays a key role in studying the dynamics of forest areas. Appropriate mapping of anthropogenic forest disturbances is particularly important in the context of sustainable forest management. It provides ecological, social and economic information which is crucial for forest policymakers. In the last two decades, the forest areas of the Moldo-Transylvanian Carpathians have been subject to a high rate of deforestation which at present state lacks proper quantification. We present a novel methodology for monitoring the forest disturbance dynamics in Moldo-Transylvanian Carpathians by use of fractal analysis including entropy, Fractal Fragmentation Index (FFI) and Tug-of-War lacunarity (Λ_(T-o-W)). This was necessary to quantify and identify the disorder (entropy), the fragmentation (FFI) and heterogeneity of the spatial distribution (Λ_(T-o-W)) patterns. Based on satellite images of the forest areas (annually 2000-2014), increased fragmentation was demonstrated by FFI increase, a measure of the degree of disorder (entropy) and heterogeneity (lacunarity). Our results revealed that textural and fractal analysis can be an effective tool for the extraction of quantitative information about the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest disturbance. The methods developed, and results obtained are a complementary approach to forest disturbance mapping (based on traditional image classification) for future development and adaptation of forestry management policies to ensure a sustainable management and exploitation of forest areas.

Keywords

forest disturbance; deforestation; sustainability; fractal analysis; entropy; forest management.

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Remote Sensing

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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