Fragmentation increased in over half of global forests from 2000 to 2020

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zou, Yibiao; Crowther, Thomas W.; Smith, Gabriel Reuben; Ma, Haozhi; Mo, Lidong; Bialic-Murphy, Lalasia; Potapov, Peter; Gawecka, Klementyna A.; Xu, Chi; Negret, Pablo J.; Lauber, Thomas; Wu, Zhaofei; Rebindaine, Dominic; Zohner, Constantin M.
• 署名单位: Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; ETH Zurich; Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow & Landscape Research; Nankai University; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; University of Zurich; UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH); Nanjing University; University of Bern; Western Sydney University; Beijing Normal University
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-13166
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adr6450
• 发表日期: 2025-09-11
• 页码: 1151-1156
• 关键词: positive feedbacks; landscape indexes; protected areas; CLIMATE-CHANGE; performance; patterns; worlds; LEVEL; size; time

摘要

Habitat fragmentation, in which contiguous forests are broken into smaller, isolated patches, threatens biodiversity by disrupting species movement, shrinking populations, and altering ecosystem dynamics. Past assessments suggested declining global fragmentation, but they relied on structure-based metrics that overlook ecological connectivity. We analyzed global forest fragmentation from 2000 to 2020 using complementary metrics that captured patch connectivity, aggregation, and structure. Connectivity-based metrics revealed that 51 to 67% of forests globally-and 58 to 80% of tropical forests-became more fragmented, which is nearly twice the rate suggested by traditional structure-focused methods (30 to 35%). Aggregation-focused metrics confirmed increases in 57 to 83% of forests. Human activities such as agriculture and logging drive this change. Yet protected tropical areas saw up to an 82% reduction in fragmentation, underscoring the potential of targeted conservation.