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Abstract :
[en] The current project aims to develop a generic set of analysis methods to quantify anthropogenic degradation of tropical ecosystems. This will assist in landscape planning for ecosystem restoration and sustainable management of human impacts. Indeed, the analysis methods will enable to detect landscape degradation and its anthropogenic drivers based on their spatial properties, less complex or expensive to obtain than in-situ data. The project consists of two parts:
- methodological research and development, based on principles landscape ecology and combined with other disciplines like remote sensing, geographic information systems, sociology and agronomy (in progress),
- application of the developed pattern metrics on new study cases for evaluation and validation.
Using study cases in tropical areas, the development of a typology enables to identify, classify and analyze degradation origin, its spatial properties and the ecosystems involved. The following pressures: woodcut for charcoal production, agricultural extension, mining activity and climate change have already been tested for the following natural ecosystems: rainforest, woodland, savannah.
Afterwards, different metrics will be evaluated statistically with regard to their potential to capture anthropogenic effects. The Simpson diversity index, Largest Patch Index, fractal dimension and O'Neill disturbance index have already been tested and sometimes adapted. Critical thresholds will be defined in order to detect critical degradation levels of the terrestrial ecosystems.
The best metrics will be calculated for new case(s) of anthropogenic impacts on landscapes (Cambodia?) in order to validate the correlation between metric outcomes and in situ observations.
