PARENT SESSION
Oral Session #12: Landscape Ecology: Theory and application. Presiding: C. Johnston.
Monday, August 6, 2001. 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Madison Ballroom D.
Using landscape metrics to interpret land cover change in Western Honduras and to monitor infringement into Celaque National Park.
Southworth, Jane1,2, Nagendra, Harini1, Tucker, Catherine1, 1 2
ABSTRACT- Understanding the relationship between human behavior and forest change poses a major challenge for environmental and conservation research. This study addresses the issues of trajectories of land cover change and their relationship to the social and biophysical characteristics of the landscape. The study area is located within a mountainous region of pine oak forest in Western Honduras, and includes the Celaque national forest. Remote sensing imagery of four time points: 1987, 1991, 1996, and 2000: were used to create single date land cover classifications. A number of change grids were subsequently created for forest and non-forest classes between the different time periods. Areas of reforestation were significantly larger when compared to areas of deforestation, across all dates. In addition, land cover trajectories were related to accessibility characteristics of the landscape, including distance to roads, elevation and slope. Spatially, the small patches of swidden agriculture were found close to roads, at lower elevations and on more gradual slopes between 1987 and 1991. However, since 1991, coffee production has started to spread throughout the community. This resulted in clearings of forest on steep slopes and higher elevations, notably within the Celaque national park boundaries, with increased infringements over time. This research provides an insight into the dynamics of land transformation within protected areas, and evaluates the effectiveness of national park protection for this region of Western Honduras.
KEY WORDS: fragmentation, landscape analysis, change trajectories, coffee