Implementation of the MCPFE Indicator on Landscape Level Forest Spatial Pattern for Europe

Landscape-level forest spatial pattern describes the size and spatial configuration of forests. It is an indicator of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe. A new method based on mathematical morphology is proposed for this indicator implementation. This new method enables to classify and map seven spatial pattern classes (core, small fragments/flecks, edges, perforation, connectors as bridges and loops, branches) from any binary land cover maps. European forest pattern maps were obtained from the 100m spatial resolution Pan-European CORINE land cover map for the years 1990 and 2000 and from a new 25 m spatial resolution European forest for the year 2000. Pattern statistics showed the diversity fo 27 European countries at 100m resolution for year 2000. Trends in forest pattern from 1990 to 2000 were analyzed per provincial administrative unit. Based on the structural seven pattern classes the following four pattern processes were measured: core forest, forest structural connectivity, external fragmentation accounting for small fragment and for external-to-core borders, internal fragmentation accounting for forest perforation and other internal-to-core borders. The results show summary maps that depict the trends (reduction, increase) for each pattern process. Pattern trends can be interpreted as positive or negative depending on species guilds (interior versus edge species). Despite a stable overall forest cover observed at 100m over the 10 years, changes in forest pattern took place with a regional variety in type and direction over Europe. The proposed method represents an applicable assessment scheme suitable for the continental scale. It has identified hot spots of pattern changes where further study on species population is needed.JRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard