This indicator provides information on the extent to which forests are being fragmented over time by human activities and natural processes. Fragmentation may lead to the isolation and loss of species and gene pools,
degraded habitat quality, and a reduction in the forest’s ability to sustain the natural processes necessary to maintain ecosystem health.
Forest systems have been classified according to nutrient and other soil conditions, as well as light (L metric) conditions necessary for growth. The mL metric refers to the mean light levels for a site.
Native plants are distributed across the landscape because of legacies of past distributions, climate, topography, insolation, and other factors. Comparing current distributions with past distributions is one way to track effects of climate change and land use.
Evaluate the likely shift in distributions of dominant tree species, due to projected climate changes. This would highlight areas of habitats apt to be strongly impacted by short and long-term changes, and at risk of conversion to other vegetation types, thus affecting the local and regional species composition and biodiversity.
