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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2021-06, Vol.23 (6), p.748
Main Authors: Urgilez-Clavijo, Andrea, Rivas-Tabares, David Andrés, Martín-Sotoca, Juan José, Tarquis Alfonso, Ana María
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amazon basin
Biosphere
Complexity
Deforestation
deforestation complexity
deforestation process
Ecosystems
Forests
Fractal analysis
Fractal geometry
Fractals
Geometry
local connected fractal dimension
Patches (structures)
Segmentation
Vegetation
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Summary: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 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.
ISSN:1099-4300
1099-4300
DOI:10.3390/e23060748