Multitemporal Incidence of Landscape Fragmentation in a Protected Area of Central Andean Ecuador

Carlos Rosero (), Xosé Otero, Cinthya Bravo and Catherine Frey ()
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Carlos Rosero: Grupo de Investigación y Desarrollo para el Ambiente y Cambio Climático, Facultad de Ciencias, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Panamericana Sur Km 1 ½, Riobamba 060155, Ecuador
Xosé Otero: CRETUS, Departamento de Edafoloxía e Química Agrícola, Universidade Santiago de Compostela, Campus Vida, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Cinthya Bravo: Grupo de Investigación y Desarrollo para el Ambiente y Cambio Climático, Facultad de Ciencias, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Panamericana Sur Km 1 ½, Riobamba 060155, Ecuador
Catherine Frey: Grupo de Investigación y Desarrollo para el Ambiente y Cambio Climático, Facultad de Ciencias, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Panamericana Sur Km 1 ½, Riobamba 060155, Ecuador

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: Monitoring land cover changes in protected areas is crucial to control the conservation efficiency of biodiversity and natural ecosystem conditions, especially in Ecuador, one of the most megadiverse countries in the world. Therefore, the purpose of the present study has been to estimate spatiotemporal changes in the landscape and the level of fragmentation using remote sensing in Llanganates National Park (PNL), a protected area in central Andean Ecuador. To obtain land cover, satellite images were processed using the Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) algorithm. After statistical analysis, it was encountered that there is no significant difference in land cover change between the years 1991 to 2016 nor among the three watersheds, while the level of fragmentation in the PNL is low. Land cover changes in the study area are not evident, as it is a protected area where ecosystems are usually expected to maintain their initial conditions over time. Therefore, with these results it has been concluded that the biodiversity and landscape conservation processes in the PNL are effective.

Keywords: ecological fragmentation; maximum likelihood; landscape metrics and indices; Patch Analyst; IndiFrag; Ecuador (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:500-:d:1071926

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