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- Info
Forest fragmentation and its implications in central New York
| Author: |
Hill, Deborah B. |
| Date: |
1985 |
| Periodical: |
Forest Ecology and Management. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. |
| Abstract: |
Both historical and current land use practices have fragmented a forest resource, once covering virtually 100% of Onondaga County, NY, into small isolated forest habitat islands. An inventory of current forested areas taken from aerial photographs showed that many forest islands isolated by agricultural, industrial and urban development are so small and so isolated from areas of similar types that they may degenerate into a non-forested condition. Eighty percent of the islands mapped and measured are less than or equal to 10 ha and so are not economically valuable. Their potential ecological value as protectors of watersheds and soil stability, and as gene pools for plant and animal species is, however, considerable. These non-economic values are size dependent. The negative implications of forest resource reduction or fragmentation should be considered by land use managers and planners. |
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