Sixty years of land-use and land-cover change dynamics in a global biodiversity hotspot under threat from global change

• Published in: Journal of land use science Vol. 16; no. 5-6; pp. 467 - 478
• Main Authors: Hermosilla-Palma, Katherine, Pliscoff, Patricio, Folchi, Mauricio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 02.11.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Biodiversity hot spots; Central Chile; Environmental quality; Expansion; Forestry laws; forestry plantations; Forests; Habitat fragmentation; habitat quality; Habitats; Land cover; Land use; Land-use and land-cover dynamics; Plantations; Sustainable forestry; Vegetation; Wildfires
• ISSN: 1747-423X; 1747-4248
• DOI: 10.1080/1747423X.2021.2011970

Constitución County in Chile shows one of the highest landscape transformations in the world due to the expansion of forest plantations. This work describes the land use/cover dynamics over a long period extending over 60 years in Constitución County. The results showed that 60% of the county extent was covered by natural vegetationt in 1955. However, forest plantation increased to 36% by 1975 and reached 72% by 2014. This expansion was mainly achieved by replacing native vegetation revealing evidence of the impact of forest plantations on native vegetation even before decree-law 701 (1974). Forest plantation expansion produced fragmentation and loss of natural habitat, and 50% of the remaining habitats showed low habitat quality by 2014. Finally, in 2017 a wildfire burned 77% and 42% of the remaining native forest and shrubland. These results showed the long-lasting impact of forest plantations, underpinning the need to move towards a new sustainable forest model.