Landscape change and habitat fragmentation is increasingly affecting forests worldwide. Assessments of patterns of spatial cover in forests over time can be critical as they reveal important information about landscape condition. In this study, we assessed landscape patterns across the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) and Alpine Ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis) forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria between 1999 and 2019. These forests have experienced major disturbance over the past 20 years through a major fire (in 2009) and extensive industrial logging. We found that around 70% and 65% of the Mountain Ash and Alpine Ash forest areas, respectively, were either disturbed or within 200 m of a disturbed area. Inclusion of planned logging increased these disturbance categories to 72% and 70%, respectively. We also found that the isolation of Mountain Ash core areas (patches of undisturbed forest >1000 ha) increased significantly (P < 0.05) over our study period, with the proximity between disturbed areas conversely increasing significantly (P < 0.05). This means that continued and planned disturbance through industrial logging will have an amplified adverse effect on remaining undisturbed ash forest patches, which will become smaller and more dispersed across the landscape.

中文翻译：

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极度濒危森林生态系统的时间碎片化

景观变化和栖息地破碎化对全球森林的影响越来越大。随着时间的推移，对森林空间覆盖模式的评估至关重要，因为它们揭示了有关景观条件的重要信息。在这项研究中，我们评估了 1999 年至 2019 年维多利亚中部高地的山灰（Eucalyptus regnans）和高山灰（Eucalyptus delegatensis）森林的景观模式。这些森林在过去 20 年中经历了一场大火造成的严重干扰（2009 年）和广泛的工业采伐。我们发现分别约有 70% 和 65% 的山灰和高山灰森林区域受到干扰或在干扰区域的 200 m 范围内。包括计划测井使这些干扰类别分别增加到 72% 和 70%。我们还发现，在我们的研究期间，山灰核心区（未受干扰的森林面积 > 1000 公顷）的隔离显着增加（P < 0.05），而受干扰区域之间的接近度反而显着增加（P < 0.05）。这意味着工业采伐造成的持续和有计划的干扰将对剩余的未受干扰的灰烬森林斑块产生放大的不利影响，这些斑块将变得更小，更分散在整个景观中。