Comparing global and local maps of the Caribbean pine forests of Andros, home of the critically endangered Bahama Oriole
Comparing global and local maps of the Caribbean pine forests of Andros, home of the critically endangered Bahama Oriole
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DOI：
10.1007/s10661-021-09560-7
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发表时间：
2021-11
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
J. Antalffy;Michael G. Rowley;Scott B. Johnson;Shelley Cant-Woodside;E. Freid;K. E. Omland;M. Fagan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Antalffy;Michael G. Rowley;Scott B. Johnson;Shelley Cant-Woodside;E. Freid;K. E. Omland;M. Fagan
在地球仪上，森林损失正在以惊人的速度发生。巴哈马群岛安德罗斯的松树罗克兰林可能是世界上最大的加勒比松树巴哈马亚种林。鉴于这些松树林中栖息着独特的物种，如地方性的和极度濒危的巴哈马黄鹂，监测安德罗斯上的栖息地对保护规划至关重要。我们开发了2019年土地分类地图，以评估安德罗斯上九个陆地栖息地的状况。我们的随机森林分类模型预测栖息地类具有很高的整体准确性。加勒比松是占主导地位的土地类别，约占陆地总面积的三分之一。而大部分的松树林面积被发现为小补丁，大多数是接近其他补丁的松树表明隔离的森林补丁是低的。我们比较了我们已知的完整的森林面积，最近的森林损失确定的汉森等人。全球森林变化产品和评估栖息地干扰的高分辨率图像的地区。我们的研究结果表明，这个全球地图高估了安德罗斯的森林损失。安德罗斯上真正森林的少量损失主要是由人类活动造成的。对汉森森林损失与火灾数据的交叉制表显示，林下火灾经常与错误分类的森林砍伐有关。考虑到气候变化对这一开放森林类型的威胁-加剧火灾状况、加强飓风和海平面上升-监测开放森林范围的变化是整个加勒比地区和全世界的一项关键任务。
Forest loss is occurring at alarming rates across the globe. The pine rockland forests of Andros, The Bahamas, likely represent some of the largest stands of Bahamian subspecies of Caribbean pine in the world. Given the unique species that inhabit these pine forests, such as the endemic and critically endangered Bahama Oriole, monitoring habitats on Andros is crucial to inform conservation planning. We developed a 2019 land classification map to assess the status of nine terrestrial habitats on Andros. Our Random Forest classification model predicted habitat classes with high overall accuracy. Caribbean pine was the dominant land class making up roughly one-third of the total terrestrial area. Whereas much of the pine forest area was found as small patches, most were close to other patches of pine suggesting isolation of forest patches is low. We compared our known intact forest areas to recent forest loss identified by the Hansen et al. Global Forest Change product and assessed areas of habitat disturbance in high-resolution imagery. Our results suggest that this global map overpredicted forest loss on Andros. The small degree of true forest loss on Andros was driven mostly by anthropogenic activity. A cross-tabulation of the Hansen forest loss with fire data showed that understory fires were frequently associated with falsely classified deforestation. Given the threats of climate change to this open forest type—intensifying fire regimes, strengthening hurricanes, and sea level rise—monitoring changes in open forest extent is a critical task across the Caribbean region and the world.