<p>Landscape fragmentation, the breaking up of continuous landscapes into smaller, isolated patches, significantly impacts habitat fragmentation. It reduces habitat area, increases isolation of wildlife populations, and lengthens habitat edges, disrupting ecological processes, reducing biodiversity, and threatening species survival by limiting resources and increasing vulnerability to external threats. This study aims to assess pattern of landscape fragmentation and its impact on the habitat fragmentation in an ecological region in Lower Gangetic plain using geospatial technology and landscape spatial metrics from 1991 to 2021. A habitat fragmentation index (HFI) has been developed following the framework proposed by human development index (HDI). The results showed that in the entire region, built-up area significantly increased (increased by 310.50%), followed by vegetation cover (increased by 54.19%). Among all the eco-regions, the highest increase was reported from Tal region (increased by 705.45%), followed by Barind eco-region (increased by 278.30%), and Diara eco-region (increased by 188.80%). The number of patches (NP) increased by 9.99% and largest patch index (LPI) 3.80% indicating the fragmentation of the landscape. The areas with high and very high habitat fragmentation increased in Tal region. Thus, the findings of the study would be very to identify the areas with high habitat fragmentation for ecosystem management and restorations.</p>

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Analyzing the impact of landscape fragmentation on habitat integrity across eco-regions in Lower Gangetic plain

  • Ashis Mandal,
  • Arijit Das,
  • Habibur Rahaman,
  • Resmina Parvin,
  • Manob Das

摘要

Landscape fragmentation, the breaking up of continuous landscapes into smaller, isolated patches, significantly impacts habitat fragmentation. It reduces habitat area, increases isolation of wildlife populations, and lengthens habitat edges, disrupting ecological processes, reducing biodiversity, and threatening species survival by limiting resources and increasing vulnerability to external threats. This study aims to assess pattern of landscape fragmentation and its impact on the habitat fragmentation in an ecological region in Lower Gangetic plain using geospatial technology and landscape spatial metrics from 1991 to 2021. A habitat fragmentation index (HFI) has been developed following the framework proposed by human development index (HDI). The results showed that in the entire region, built-up area significantly increased (increased by 310.50%), followed by vegetation cover (increased by 54.19%). Among all the eco-regions, the highest increase was reported from Tal region (increased by 705.45%), followed by Barind eco-region (increased by 278.30%), and Diara eco-region (increased by 188.80%). The number of patches (NP) increased by 9.99% and largest patch index (LPI) 3.80% indicating the fragmentation of the landscape. The areas with high and very high habitat fragmentation increased in Tal region. Thus, the findings of the study would be very to identify the areas with high habitat fragmentation for ecosystem management and restorations.