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1.
Temporal change in fragmentation of continental US forests 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
James D. Wickham Kurt H. Riitters Timothy G. Wade Collin Homer 《Landscape Ecology》2008,23(8):891-898
Changes in forest ecosystem function and condition arise from changes in forest fragmentation. Previous studies estimated
forest fragmentation for the continental United States (US). In this study, new temporal land-cover data from the National
Land Cover Database (NLCD) were used to estimate changes in forest fragmentation at multiple scales for the continental US.
Early and late dates for the land-cover change data were ca. 1992 and ca. 2001. Forest density was used as a multi-scale index
of fragmentation by measuring the proportion of forest in neighborhoods ranging in size from 2.25 to 5314.41 ha. The multi-scale
forest density maps were classified using thresholds of 40% (patch), 60% (dominant), and 90% (interior) to analyze temporal
change of fragmentation. The loss of dominant and interior forest showed distinct scale effects, whereas loss of patch forest
was much less scale-dependent. Dominant forest loss doubled from the smallest to the largest spatial scale, while interior
forest loss increased by approximately 80% from the smallest to the second largest spatial scale, then decreased somewhat.
At the largest spatial scale, losses of dominant and interior forest were 5 and 10%, respectively, of their ca. 1992 amounts.
In contrast, patch forest loss increased by only 25% from the smallest to largest spatial scale. These results indicate that
continental US forests were sensitive to forest loss because of their already fragmented state. Forest loss would have had
to occur in an unlikely spatial pattern in order to avoid the proportionately greater impact on dominant and interior forest
at larger spatial scales. 相似文献
2.
Edge and area effects on avian assemblages and insectivory in fragmented native forests 总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0
Luc Barbaro Eckehard G. Brockerhoff Brice Giffard Inge van Halder 《Landscape Ecology》2012,27(10):1451-1463
Disentangling the confounded effects of edge and area in fragmented landscapes is a recurrent challenge for landscape ecologists, requiring the use of appropriate study designs. Here, we examined the effects of forest fragment area and plot location at forest edges versus interiors on native and exotic bird assemblages on Banks Peninsula (South Island, New Zealand). We also experimentally measured with plasticine models how forest fragment area and edge versus interior location influenced the intensity of avian insectivory. Bird assemblages were sampled by conducting 15?min point-counts at paired edge and interior plots in 13 forest fragments of increasing size (0.5?C141?ha). Avian insectivory was measured as the rate of insectivorous bird attacks on plasticine models mimicking larvae of a native polyphagous moth. We found significant effects of edge, but not of forest patch area, on species richness, abundance and composition of bird assemblages. Exotic birds were more abundant at forest edges, while neither edge nor area effects were noticeable for native bird richness and abundance. Model predation rates increased with forest fragmentation, both because of higher insectivory in smaller forest patches and at forest edges. Avian predation significantly increased with insectivorous bird richness and foraging bird abundance. We suggest that the coexistence of native and exotic birds in New Zealand mosaic landscapes enhances functional diversity and trait complementation within predatory bird assemblages. This coexistence results in increased avian insectivory in small forest fragments through additive edge and area effects. 相似文献
3.
Initial results of a pilot study to link remotely-sensed information on tropical forest loss to field-based information on species endangerment are reported here. LANDSAT multispectral scanner (MSS) imagery from 1973 and 1988 were used to estimate net forest removal (29% of forest area), regrowth (7% of forest area, including possible artifactual errors), and forest edges in Mabira Forest in southeastern Uganda during the 15-year period. Of the forest remaining, the percentage that was heavily disturbed increased from 18% to 42%. This change in forest density was observable with the MSS imagery. The total forest edge-to-area ratio (including edges interior to the forest boundary) increased by 29% over the period. Although four distinct types of closed tropical forest, based on structure or dominance, could be recognized on the ground, the types could not be distinguished by differences in spectral reflectance in the four MSS bands. Closed tropical forest could be readily distinguished from exotic conifer plantations, banana plantations, and other non-forest vegetation types. Field measurements in Mabira and other Ugandan rain forests, and in rain forest isolates on the Atherton Tableland of North Queensland, are being made to relate changes in forest fragmentation to resulting changes in species abundance, structural form of the forests, and morphological diversity of target populations. Possible applications of conservation biology theory and modeling to these data are briefly discussed. 相似文献
4.
Climate and topography are two important controls on spatial patterns of fire disturbance in forests globally, via their influence
on fuel moisture and fuel production. To assess the influences of climate and topography on fire disturbance patterns in a
temperate forest region, we analyzed the mapped perimeters of fires that burned during 1930–2003 in two national parks in
the eastern United States. These were Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) in the southern Appalachian Mountains and
Shenandoah National Park (SNP) in the central Appalachian Mountains. We conducted GIS analyses to assess trends in area burned
under differing climatic conditions and across topographic gradients (elevation, slope position, and aspect). We developed
a Classification and Regression Tree model in order to further explore the interactions between topography, climate, and fire.
The results demonstrate that climate is a strong driver of both spatial and temporal patterns of wildfire. Fire was most prevalent
in the drier SNP than the wetter GSMNP, and during drought years in both parks. Topography also influenced fire occurrence,
with relatively dry south-facing aspects, ridges, and lower elevations burning most frequently. However, the strength of topographic
trends varied according to the climatic context. Weaker topographic trends emerged in the drier SNP than GSMNP, and during
low-PDSI (dry) years than high-PDSI (wet) years in both parks. The apparent influence of climate on the spatial patterning
of fire suggests a more general concept, that disturbance-prone landscapes exhibit weaker fine-scale spatial patterning of
disturbance than do less disturbance-prone landscapes. 相似文献
5.
Modeling the effects of forest harvesting on landscape structure and the spatial distribution of cowbird brood parasitism 总被引：10，自引：1，他引：9
Timber harvesting affects both composition and structure of the landscape and has important consequences for organisms using forest habitats. A timber harvest allocation model was constructed that allows the input of specific rules to allocate forest stands for clearcutting to generate landscape patterns reflecting the look and feel of managed landscapes. Various harvest strategies were simulated on four 237 km2 study areas in Indiana, USA. For each study area, the model was applied to simulate 80 years of management activity. The resulting landscape spatial patterns were quantified using a suite of landscape pattern metrics and plotted as a function of mean harvest size and total area of forest harvested per decade to produce response surfaces. When the mean clearcut size was 1 ha, the area of forest interior remaining on the landscape was dramatically reduced and the amount of forest edge on the landscape increased dramatically. The potential consequences of the patterns produced by the model were assessed for a generalized neotropical migrant forest bird using a GIS model that generates maps showing the spatial distribution of the relative vulnerability of forest birds to brood parasitism by brown-headed cowbirds. The model incorporates the location and relative quality of cowbird feeding sites, and the relation between parasitism rates and distance of forest from edge. The response surface relating mean harvest size and total area harvested to the mean value of vulnerability to cowbird brood parasitism had a shape similar to the response surfaces showing forest edge. The results of our study suggest that it is more difficult to maintain large contiguous blocks of undisturbed forest interior when harvests are small and dispersed, especially when producing high timber volumes is a management goal. The application of the cowbird model to landscapes managed under different strategies could help managers in deciding where harvest activity will produce the least negative impact on breeding forest birds. 相似文献
6.
Worldwide forests fragmentation has lead to a massive increase of habitat edges, creating both negative and positive impacts on birds. While busy highways dissecting forested areas create edges which are known to reduce bird densities due to the disturbing effect of noise, the impacts of logging forest roads with low traffic volumes have rarely been studied. In this study, we compared species richness and similarity of canopy, cavity and shrub guilds of birds along low-traffic forest roads, in forest interior, and at forest edges in secondary forests in central Europe, where the forests have passed through extensive changes toward uniformly compact growths dominated by production conifers. Although we found tree diversity as positively affecting bird richness across all habitats, the bird richness along forest roads was higher than in forest interior but lower than along forest edges. The shrub guild of birds along forest roads resembled this guild along forest edges while canopy and cavity guilds at the roads were more similar to these guilds in forest interior. Forest interior had the highest probability for some guild to be absent. We conclude that low-traffic roads lead to increase of habitat heterogeneity in structurally poor forests and attract birds due to additional habitat attributes—including better light conditions—that are scarce in forest interior. Therefore, broader support for higher structural diversification of uniform plantations in central European production forests would benefit bird communities inhabiting these areas. 相似文献
7.
Lateral migrations of river meanders create transient, spatially transgressive edges where the advancing cutbank edge encroaches upon interior floodplain forest communities. This spatial movement of edge toward the forest interior should initiate directional changes in species composition within a forest plot as it is affected by a changing microclimate and hydrological regime. We found that cutbank edge and forest interior sites in an Iowa floodplain contained markedly different plant assemblages. Species commonly associated with later stages of succession dominated interior sites while cutbank edge sites favored secondary, successional species. Assuming that the cutbank edge sites once contained vegetation similar to that surveyed in the floodplain interior, the observed changes in community structure accompanying channel migration are suggestive of retrograde succession, or retrogression. To link cutbank erosional processes with retrogressional processes, we modified a computer simulation model already in use for floodplain environments. We incorporated the changing edge effects and compared model projections with the data collected from the field sites using detrended correspondence analysis. Without changes, the simulation projected a site compositionally similar to the sampled interior forest. When the changes were initiated, the simulated site progressively took on compositional characteristics similar to the riparian edge sites. Because we included only those forcing functions that would be initiated by cutbank erosion, the model supports the hypothesis that the spatially progressive edge effect results in a directional change in forest community composition analogous to retrogression. Our results demonstrate an interesting linkage between successional and fluvial-geomorphic processes and indicate that site dynamics may be controlled differently in landscapes where sites are progressively created and destroyed than where recurrent disturbances affect the same site. 相似文献
8.
The fractal shape of riparian forest patches 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Remnant patches of a forest corridor were examined along the Iowa and Cedar Rivers, Iowa. A fractal dimension was found for these patches which was incorporated with the perimeter:area ratio in an index of shape. This index was then regressed on 5 hydrogeomorphic variables hypothesized to represent processes which might control patch dimensions, plus a variable to represent human impact. The hydrogeomorphic variables were derived from topographic maps; the impact variable used was the proportion of perimeter that was occupied by a road, railroad, transmission line, urban or other built area, or a straight line judged to be agricultural. Three variables remained significant in a reduced model: human impact, valley width, and stream sinuosity, but together the three accounted for only 24% of the variance in patch shape. The fractal perimeter:area ratio increased with human impact, probably because of reduced area, and decreased with valley width, which allowed more extensive forest on wide floodplains, and with sinuosity, which resulted in small patches isolated on the interior of meanders. These results indicate that in this landscape the hydrogeomorphic structures play a role, but that human impact is more significant in its effect on the shape of remnant forest patches. Other structures, such as the regional topography, may account for the unexplained variance. The index of shape used here may be useful as an independent variable in studies of ecological processes affected by patch shape and form and as a guide to conservation. 相似文献
9.
A GIS-based method for the reconstruction of the late eighteenth century forest vegetation in the Prignitz region (NE Germany) 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Our goal was to reconstruct the late eighteenth century forest vegetation of the Prignitz region (NE Germany) at a scale of
1:50,000. We also wanted to relate the historical forest vegetation to the actual and potential natural vegetation. For these
purposes, we selected 15 woody species and transferred relevant data found in historical records from various sources together
with the recent localities of (very) old individuals belonging to these woody species into ArcView GIS. Following multi-step
data processing including the generation of a point density layer using a moving window with kernel estimation and derivation
of vegetation units applying Boolean algebra rules together with information on site conditions, we derived 17 forest communities
corresponding to the potential natural vegetation. We were able to reconstruct the historical forest vegetation for 90% of
the forest area ca. 1780. Only two of the 17 forest communities covered large parts of the forested area. The oak forest with
Agrostis capillaris covered about 44% of the total forest area, and alder forests on fenland made up about 37%. Oak-hornbeam forests with Stellaria holostea comprised slightly less than 6% of the forest area, while all other forest communities comprised less than 1%. The historical
forest vegetation is more similar to the potential forest vegetation and quite different from the actual forest vegetation
because coniferous tree species currently cover approximately two-thirds of the actual forest area. The most beneficial result
of this study is the map of high-resolution historical vegetation units that may serve as the basis for various further studies,
e.g., modelling long-term changes in biodiversity at the landscape scale. 相似文献
10.
Much of the boreal forest in western North America and Alaska experiences frequent, stand-replacing wildfires. Secondary succession
after fire initiates most forest stands and variations in fire characteristics can have strong effects on pathways of succession.
Variations in surface fire severity that influence whether regenerating forests are dominated by coniferous or deciduous species
can feedback to influence future fire behaviour because of differences in forest flammability. We used a landscape model of
fire and forest dynamics to explore the effects of different scenarios of surface fire severity on subsequent forest succession
and potential fire activity in interior Alaska. Model simulations indicated that high levels of surface fire severity leading
to a prolonged phase of deciduous forest dominance caused a reduction in landscape flammability and fewer large fire events.
Under low surface fire severity, larger patches of contiguous conifer forest promoted fire spread and resulted in landscapes
with shorter fire return intervals compared to scenarios of high surface severity. Nevertheless, these negative feedbacks
between fire severity, deciduous forest cover, and landscape flammability were unable to fully compensate for greater fire
activity under scenarios of severe climate warming. Model simulations suggest that the effects of climate warming on fire
activity in Alaska’s boreal forests may be partially but not completely mitigated by changes in fire severity that alter landscape
patterns of forest composition and subsequent fire behaviour. 相似文献
11.
Wayne C. Zipperer 《Landscape Ecology》1993,8(3):177-184
Five identifiable patterns of deforestation are recognized - internal, indentation, cropping, fragmentation, and removal - and each has a distinct effect on habitat quality of forest patches in the eastern United States. By overlaying land use maps from 1973 and 1981 for three counties in the State of Maryland (Prince Georges, Anne Arundel, and Wicomico), changes in the interior core area and edge length of individual patches were measured. Forest interior declined by 23.8 km2 in Anne Arundel, 16.3 km2 in Prince Georges, and 8.4 km2 in Wicomico. Within Anne Arundel and Prince Georges Counties, deforestation increased edge length by 52.1 km and 31.2 km, respectively, whereas, within Wicomico, it decreased edge length by 8.7 km. Differences among counties resulted from current land use patterns, percentage of forest cover, and the dominant deforestation pattern. 相似文献
12.
In agricultural landscapes, most studies have investigated the influence of the spatial pattern of forest patches on other ecological phenomena and processes, such as animal movement and biodiversity. However, few have focused on explaining the spatial pattern of the forest patches themselves. Understanding how these patterns relate to the processes that generate them is fundamental in developing a sound theory of landscape ecology, and in devising rational management strategies. In this paper, the pattern of the overall forest patches, as well as the pattern of deciduous and coniferous patches in an agricultural landscape of Southern Quebec, Canada, were analyzed and related to landscape physical attributes and land use, using remote sensing, geographic information systems and statistical methods. Results show that the role of landscape physical attributes on forest patch pattern has been modified by land use. In the study area, coniferous or deciduous patches are not associated with a specific surface deposit. In addition, physical attributes explain only a small proportion of the abundance of conifers on past abandoned land compared with land-use factors. Physical attributes only indirectly influence the forest pattern because they strongly influence the land-use practices. Our results reveal a conifer recovery process with the abandonment of agricultural land. On past abandoned land, conifers expand with increasing stand age, mostly by invasion from neighboring coniferous patches. Spatially, coniferous patches are usually located on the margins of the overall forest patches, and they are connected to non-forest land-use types such as crop and pasture, the latter being the most important. By showing the importance of some coniferous forest types that did not exist in the precolonial forest, a new perspective emerges when landscape, especially, land-use dynamics are taken into account. 相似文献
13.
Recent forest cover type transitions and landscape structural changes in northeast Minnesota,USA 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Landsat TM satellite data covering an approximate 5-year interval (1990–1995) were used to quantify spatial pattern and transition
rates between forest ecological states for a 2.76 million ha region in northeast Minnesota. Changes in forest cover were stratified
by Ecological Subsection, management status, and by ownership categories using a 1995 digital ownership layer. Approximately
4.2% of the 1990 mature forested area was converted to early successional types by 1995. Of this 4.2%, private lands accounted
for 33%, federal lands 31%, county lands 20% and state lands 16%. Notable conversion percentages by cover type category were
spruce-fir (−5.3%), aspen-birch(−4.7%), jack pine (−4.6%) and black spruce(−3.0%). Transition rates were also adjusted to
fit ten-year time intervals. Shannon-Weaver Eveness and edge density of cover types increased over the study period as relative
contagion and interior forest area decreased. These trends suggest both smaller patches and a more even distribution of cover
types. Area of upland conifers, lowland conifers and lowland hardwoods decreased while the area of mature upland hardwoods
increased in most patch size classes except the > 500 ha class which showed a substantial decrease in area. The area of early
successional types increased in most patch size classes. Non-industrial private forestland had the lowest proportion of interior
forest of all ownership categories -decreasing by 13.5% in five years. Smaller average cut-unit size sand uncoordinated forest
management is the likely cause since cutting rates between private and public forestland were similar.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
14.
15.
Vegetation in mountainous regions responds to small-scale variation in terrain, largely due to effects on both temperature and soil moisture. However there are few studies of quantitative, terrain-based methods for predicting vegetation composition. This study investigated relationships between forest composition, elevation, and a derived index of terrain shape, and evaluates methods for predicting forest composition. Trees were measured on 406 permanent plots within the boundaries of the Coweeta Hydrologic Lab, located in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, USA. All plots were in control watersheds, without human or major natural disturbance since 1923. Plots were 0.08 ha and arrayed on transects, with approximately 380 meters between parallel transects. Breast-height diameters were measured on all trees. Elevation and terrain shape (cove, ridge, sideslope) were estimated for each plot. Density (trees/ha) and basal area were summarized by species and by forest type (cove, xeric oak-pine, northern hardwoods, and mixed deciduous). Plot data were combined with a digital elevation data (DEM), and a derived index of terrain shape at two sampling resolutions: 30 m (US Geological Survey), and 80 m (Defense Mapping Agency) sources. Vegetation maps were produced using each of four different methods: 1) linear regression with and without log transformations against elevation and terrain variables combined with cartographic overlay, 2) kriging, 3) co-kriging, and 4) a mosaic diagram. Predicted vegetation was compared to known vegetation at each of 77 independent, withheld data points, and an error matrix was determined for each mapping method.We observed strong relationships between some species and elevation and/or terrain shape. Cove and xeric oak/pine species basal areas were positively and negatively related to concave landscape locations, respectively, while species typically found in the mixed deciduous and northern hardwood types were not. Most northern hardwood species occurred more frequently and at higher basal areas as elevation increased, while most other species did not respond to elevation. The regression and mosaic diagram mapping approaches had significantly higher mapping accuracies than kriging and co-kriging. There were significant effects of DEM resolution on map accuracy, with maps based on 30 m DEM data significantly more accurate than those based on 80 m data. Taken together, these results indicate that both the mapping method and terrain data resolution significantly affect the resultant vegetation maps, even when using relatively high resolution data. Landscape or regional models based on 100 m or lower resolution terrain data may significantly under-represent terrain-related variation in vegetation composition. 相似文献
16.
17.
Gap-crossing decisions by forest birds: an empirical basis for parameterizing spatially-explicit,individual-based models 总被引：5，自引：0，他引：5
Spatially-explicit, individual-based models are increasingly used to evaluate the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation
on habitat use and population persistence. Yet, they are criticized on the basis that they rely on little empirical data,
especially regarding decision rules of moving individuals. Here we report the results of an experiment measuring the gap-crossing
decisions of forest birds attracted to a recording of chickadee(Poecile atricapillus) mobbing calls, and provided with options to travel to the speaker by either crossing an open area (short cut) or taking
a longer route under forest cover (detour). We performed the experiment in winter and late summer near Québec City, Québec,
Canada. We recorded 1078 travel paths from 6 resident and 12 migratory species in 249 experimental sites. In both seasons,
birds preferred to travel under forest cover rather than cross open areas, even when the forested detour conveyed a substantially
longer route than the short cut in the open. Only when the detour under forest cover. This was considerably longer than the
short-cut in the open, in both relative and absolute terms, were birds more likely to take short cuts, indicating that gap-crossing
decisions are scale dependent. However, birds rarely ventured >25 m from forest edges despite having the opportunity to do
so. Except for Hairy Woodpeckers (Picoides villosus) which ventured further into the open, all species showed similar gap-crossing decisions. Residents remained marginally closer
to forest edges in late summer as compared to in winter. Conspecific group size had no influence on gap-crossing decisions.
This experiment supports the hypothesis that forest bird movements are constrained in fragmented landscapes, and provides
opportunities to calibrate spatially-explicit, individual-based models addressing the influence of landscape composition and
configuration on dispersal.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. 相似文献
18.
为了解不同土地利用方式对冀西北坝上地区土壤化学性质的影响,对该地区4种土地利用方式(围封林地、围封采伐地、未围封林地和耕地)下的土壤化学性质进行了分析.结果 表明:耕地的pH在7.5～8.5之间,明显高于其他3种土地利用方式(在6.5～7.5之间)(P＜0.05);耕地土壤的有机质、全氮、全磷、全钾及速效氮、磷、钾都明显高于3种林地(P＜0.05);2种封育林地表层土壤(0～10 cm)各养分含量明显高于未封育林地(P＜0.05),但深层土壤差异不明显.土地利用方式对土壤养分的垂直分布有显著影响,耕地土壤养分,除速效磷外,均表现为先下降后上升的趋势,养分含量变化曲线呈"V"型;3种林地土壤养分随土层深度的增加而降低,拐点均在10～20 cm土层,养分含量变化曲线呈"L"型.由以上结果得出结论,土地利用方式对土壤养分含量及其空间分布具有明显影响,耕地因为人工施肥的原因各养分含量明显高于林地,但土壤有明显的盐碱化趋势;封育可明显提高林地表层土壤养分含量,但对深层土壤影响较小. 相似文献
19.
Martin Mikoláš Martin Tejkal Tobias Kuemmerle Patrick Griffiths Miroslav Svoboda Tomáš Hlásny Pedro J. Leitão Robert C. Morrissey 《Landscape Ecology》2017,32(1):163-179
Context
Distribution and connectivity of suitable habitat for species of conservation concern is critical for effective conservation planning. Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), an umbrella species for biodiversity conservation, is increasingly threatened because of habitat loss and fragmentation.Objective
We assessed the impact of drastic changes in forest management in the Carpathian Mountains, a major stronghold of capercaillie in Europe, on habitat distribution and connectivity.Methods
We used field data surveys with a forest disturbance dataset for 1985–2010 to map habitat suitability, and we used graph theory to analyse habitat connectivity.Results
Climate, topography, forest proportion and fragmentation, and the distance to roads and settlements best identified capercaillie presence. Suitable habitat area was 7510 km2 in 1985; by 2010, clear-cutting had reduced that area by 1110 km2. More suitable habitat was lost inside protected areas (571 km2) than outside (413 km2). Habitat loss of 15 % reduced functional connectivity by 33 % since 1985.Conclusions
Forest management, particularly large-scale clear-cutting and salvage logging, have substantially diminished and fragmented suitable capercaillie habitat, regardless of the status of forest protection. Consequently, larger areas with suitable habitat are now isolated and many patches are too small to sustain viable populations. Given that protection of capercaillie habitat would benefit many other species, including old-growth specialists and large carnivores, conservation actions to halt the loss of capercaillie habitat is urgently needed. We recommend adopting policies to protect natural forests, limiting large-scale clear-cutting and salvage logging, implementing ecological forestry, and restricting road building to reduce forest fragmentation.20.
Anna Barbati Piermaria Corona Luca Salvati Lorenza Gasparella 《Urban Forestry & Urban Greening》2013,12(1):36-43
Understanding patterns of natural forest expansion in rural regions under the influence of urbanization processes is crucial for integrated spatial planning across the urban-to-rural gradient. As a matter of fact, forest expansion is the only natural process that may counteract the consumption of the ecosystem capital and ecosystems services of rural lands due to uncontrolled urban sprawl. The paper addresses this topic in the paradigmatic case study of the countryside of Rome (Italy), characterized by counter dynamics of forest expansion and suburbanization. Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) is applied to classify the forest landscape structure twice (1974 and 2008) according to seven categories (core, islet, perforation, edge, loop, bridge, branch) with different potential functional role as elements of a green infrastructure. Main findings are: (i) forest cover increased from 11% to 16% between 1974 and 2008; forest land uptake exceeds 4% of total study area, but shows a slower pace than the growth of built-up areas (10%); (ii) forest expansion has been to a large extent achieved by “sprawling” of islets (1.6% of the study area) along the stream network; (iii) more compact forest expansion has taken place on 0.2% of the study area in the form of additions to existing core areas or creation of new ones and (iv) the establishment of a network of protected areas nearby Rome has played a key role for the conservation and further expansion of core areas; yet, local loss of 1974 core areas stocks in a few protected areas indicates need of further law enforcement to ensure effective protection of the natural capital from degradation processes or even land conversion into built-up areas.Results calls for future in-depth investigations on the quality of newly created or maintained forest resource stocks associated to different spatial pattern structures. Integrated spatial planning strategies are outlined for the conservation of ecosystem capital and ecosystems services provided by forests, as major components of Rome's green infrastructure. 相似文献