Monitoring Restoration of Fragmented Landscapes

With population growth and increased prosperity driving urban and agricultural expansion in the 21st century, the conversion of natural habitat to human-dominated land-uses is expected to accelerate.  

However natural habitat is rarely fully eradicated from a landscape.  Fragmented remnants are left behind, embedded in a sea of agricultural and urban land.  Although extensive ecological research has demonstrated that habitat fragmentation decreases ecological diversity and functioning, habitat fragments are often the last harbors of biodiversity and ecosystem services in a landscape.  Viewed in this light, they represent potential foci for the restoration of the natural landscape.  

The research of the Fagan lab focuses on how we can best conserve and reconnect isolated habitat fragments.  To do this, we try to understand the process of fragmentation and habitat loss from several different perspectives: ecological, geographical, and socioeconomic.  ​

Figure from Fagan et al. 2015.  Shown here is a map of tree plantations in northeast Costa Rica, derived from analysis of hyperspectral imagery.

Assessing Conservation in Fragmented Tropical Landscapes

One focus of our research is testing how well conservation initiatives have worked in reducing tropical deforestation and maintaining habitat connectivity.  Costa Rica has an international reputation for its commitment to conservation.  In terms of governance and economic well-being, Costa Rica could be considered a "best-case" scenario for developing countries in the tropics.  By learning from its successes and failures, we can make recommendations to other countries that are following in its footsteps.  

The figure to the right shows recommended areas for reforestation in the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor in northeastern Costa Rica (from a paper we published in 2016).  Daniel Cunningham, a masters student in the lab, is currently expanding our understanding of the effectiveness of the Biological Corridor program across all of Costa Rica.  

Predicting Forest Edge Effects

When forests become fragmented, the presence of edges alters the functioning and diversity of the forest.  However, we still don't have a predictive understanding of how and why the strength and penetration of edge effects varies across a landscape.  The lab is currently examining the impact of forest fragmentation on forest structure in a highly productive region, the timberlands of the southeastern US.  Our first paper on this region, quantifying the extent of monoculture pine plantations, was just accepted in Remote Sensing of Environment.  

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