Abstract:
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The effects of forest fragmentation on forest composition and structure are assessed using a forest/non-forest classification of satellite imagery and data obtained from measurement of permanent forest inventory plots in Indiana, USA. Simple correlations between area-independent and area-dependent fragmentation measures and measures of forest composition structure were used to assess relationships. Area-independent measures include distance to forest edge, distance to water, distance to developed, and patch size; area-dependent measures include forest area, water area, developed area, and forest edge length; and forest composition and structure measures include numbers of live and dead trees, volume, biomass, basal area, mean diameter, and species diversity. Some results were expected, such as a positive correlation biomass and forest area, while some results were unexpected and interesting, such as a negative correlation between number of species and forest edge length.
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