Landscape Metrics Temporal Dynamics in a Mediterranean Area

Monitoring forest temporal dynamics is a very important tool since forests are a fundamental element for landscapes equilibrium, particularly in fragile Mediterranean environments that are vulnerable to both natural and human-induced perturbations. In this work, the approach of landscape metrics has been chosen for analyzing the forest temporal dynamics of a high heterogeneous Mediterranean territory situated in Southern Italy. A chosen set of landscape indices has been calculated for land-cover maps of the area obtained by classifying satellite Landsat-TM multi-temporal imagery (1993, 1995, 1998). The analyses reveal a slight interannual variability among the different land cover of the studied landscape, but suggest an important sensitivity for natural forest edges and enhance a localized degradation for these classes. More in general, the obtained results confirm the usefulness of landscape metrics for forest monitoring providing an important screening for subsequent field surveys.