Tropical montane forest loss dominated by increased 1–10 hectare-sized patches
Tropical forest loss continues across mountain regions at alarming rates, threatening biodiversity, carbon storage and ecosystem sustainability. To improve our understanding of the dynamics of tropical mountain forest loss, this study focuses on the trends in patch sizes of forest loss during the 21...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adabfb |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832577781090746368 |
|---|---|
| author | Xinyue He Dominick V Spracklen Joseph Holden Zhenzhong Zeng |
| author_facet | Xinyue He Dominick V Spracklen Joseph Holden Zhenzhong Zeng |
| author_sort | Xinyue He |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Tropical forest loss continues across mountain regions at alarming rates, threatening biodiversity, carbon storage and ecosystem sustainability. To improve our understanding of the dynamics of tropical mountain forest loss, this study focuses on the trends in patch sizes of forest loss during the 21st century. The annual area of tropical mountain forest loss surged from 0.7 million hectares in 2001–2003 to >2.5 million hectares in 2019–2021. There was an increase across all categories in terms of the size of forest loss patches, but strikingly, more than half of this increase was attributed to the proliferation of intermediate-sized forest loss patches spanning 1–10 ha. Concurrently, there was a diminishing proportion of small-scale montane forest loss patches (<1 ha) across all tropical continents over time. Despite their reduced overall proportion, the annual area of small forest loss patches increased, primarily influenced by trends in the Asia-Pacific region. Our study provides up-to-date and spatially explicit information on the scale of tropical mountain forest loss, and temporal trends associated with these patterns, which is crucial for assessing the sustainability of mountain forest ecosystems, highlighting the need for targeted, region-specific strategies to slow or reverse forest loss. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f1c69f03e91c42e9b5708b53807fe4be |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-f1c69f03e91c42e9b5708b53807fe4be2025-01-30T16:08:24ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262025-01-0120202403910.1088/1748-9326/adabfbTropical montane forest loss dominated by increased 1–10 hectare-sized patchesXinyue He0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2214-9338Dominick V Spracklen1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7551-4597Joseph Holden2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1108-4831Zhenzhong Zeng3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6851-2756School of Physics and Information Engineering, Guangdong University of Education , Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology , Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds , Leeds, United KingdomSchool of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds , Leeds, United KingdomSchool of Geography, University of Leeds , Leeds, United KingdomSchool of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology , Shenzhen, People’s Republic of ChinaTropical forest loss continues across mountain regions at alarming rates, threatening biodiversity, carbon storage and ecosystem sustainability. To improve our understanding of the dynamics of tropical mountain forest loss, this study focuses on the trends in patch sizes of forest loss during the 21st century. The annual area of tropical mountain forest loss surged from 0.7 million hectares in 2001–2003 to >2.5 million hectares in 2019–2021. There was an increase across all categories in terms of the size of forest loss patches, but strikingly, more than half of this increase was attributed to the proliferation of intermediate-sized forest loss patches spanning 1–10 ha. Concurrently, there was a diminishing proportion of small-scale montane forest loss patches (<1 ha) across all tropical continents over time. Despite their reduced overall proportion, the annual area of small forest loss patches increased, primarily influenced by trends in the Asia-Pacific region. Our study provides up-to-date and spatially explicit information on the scale of tropical mountain forest loss, and temporal trends associated with these patterns, which is crucial for assessing the sustainability of mountain forest ecosystems, highlighting the need for targeted, region-specific strategies to slow or reverse forest loss.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adabfbtropicsforest losspatch sizemountain forestLandsat |
| spellingShingle | Xinyue He Dominick V Spracklen Joseph Holden Zhenzhong Zeng Tropical montane forest loss dominated by increased 1–10 hectare-sized patches Environmental Research Letters tropics forest loss patch size mountain forest Landsat |
| title | Tropical montane forest loss dominated by increased 1–10 hectare-sized patches |
| title_full | Tropical montane forest loss dominated by increased 1–10 hectare-sized patches |
| title_fullStr | Tropical montane forest loss dominated by increased 1–10 hectare-sized patches |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tropical montane forest loss dominated by increased 1–10 hectare-sized patches |
| title_short | Tropical montane forest loss dominated by increased 1–10 hectare-sized patches |
| title_sort | tropical montane forest loss dominated by increased 1 10 hectare sized patches |
| topic | tropics forest loss patch size mountain forest Landsat |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adabfb |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xinyuehe tropicalmontaneforestlossdominatedbyincreased110hectaresizedpatches AT dominickvspracklen tropicalmontaneforestlossdominatedbyincreased110hectaresizedpatches AT josephholden tropicalmontaneforestlossdominatedbyincreased110hectaresizedpatches AT zhenzhongzeng tropicalmontaneforestlossdominatedbyincreased110hectaresizedpatches |