Spatial-temporal changes in mangrove Forests for Analyzing habitat Integrity: A case of hara biosphere Reserve, Iran

• Published in: Environmental and sustainability indicators Vol. 20; p. 100293
• Main Authors: Sobhani, Parvaneh, Danehkar, Afshin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 01.12.2023
• Subjects: Iran; Landscape metrics; LULC changes; Mangrove biosphere reserves
• ISSN: 2665-9727; 2665-9727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indic.2023.100293

Spatial-temporal changes in land use and land cover (LULC) patterns have led to the fragmentation of forest ecosystems and the reduction of more than one-third of mangrove forests worldwide. Environmental protection challenges and biodiversity threats in mangrove forests have attracted national and international concerns in the last three decades. Accordingly, the present study demonstrates spatial-temporal changes in mangrove forests of Hara Biosphere Reserve using Landsat images from 1989 to 2021. Moreover, habitat integrity in this area was investigated based on ecological landscape metrics. The results of LULC changes revealed that the forest area in Hara Biosphere Reserve is decreasing, while other land use (LU) such as tidal area and bare land are increasing. Likewise, in this area, the tidal area had the top increasing trend in 2021 compared to 1989, and water body revealed the top decreasing trend during the studied years. According to the results of landscape metrics change, fragmentation and patches dispersion have increased at the level of mangrove forest and water body classes, and these results at the level of tidal area and bare land classes have decreased from 1989 to 2021. The obtained results indicate that habitat integrity has decreased at the level of mangrove forest and water body classes due to the increase of LULC spatial-temporal changes and human activities development. Therefore, planners and decision-makers should strive to reduce the human causes that have led to rapid LULC changes‏.‏