FRAGMENTATION DEGREE AND EFFECTIVE MESH SIZE OF NATURE-PROTECTED AREAS OF THE WESTERN UKRAINE

O. Reshetylo


DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30970/sbi.0902.440

Abstract


Anthropogenic fragmentation of natural landscape takes on a global character. An increasing degree of the anthropogenic fragmentation undermines stability and reduces productivity of ecosystems all over the world. Index of landscape fragmentation (meff) was used for realization of idea on evaluation of the degree of landscape fragmentation and its effective mesh size on the example of 17 nature-protected areas in the Western Ukraine. Railways, hard surface roads and completely built-up areas were the factors considered to cause landscape fragmentation. On the basis of our survey, we found out that total size of a protected area is not the main criterion of its effectiveness for biodiversity conservation, and high degree of landscape fragmentation has a significant negative impact on index of landscape fragmentation. Besides, not only the degree but also the pattern of fragmentation has a significant influence on the effective mesh size. Taking into account the negative effects of landscape fragmentation as one of the threats for biodiversity on the territory of protected sites, we consider a possibility of combining the adjacent areas of Roztochchia NR and Yavorivskyi NNP in order to reduce the fragmentation degree and increase the effective mesh size.


Keywords


landscape fragmentation, effective mesh size, protected areas, biodiversity conservation, Western Ukraine

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bogaert J., Farina A., Ceulemans R. Entropy increase of fragmented habitats: A sign of human impact? Ecological Indicators, 2005; 5: 207–212. Jaeger J.A.G. Landscape division, splitting index, and effective mesh size: new measures of landscape fragmentation. Landscape Ecology, 2000; 15(2): 115–130. Landscape fragmentation in Europe / Joint EEA-FOEN report, 2011. 87 p. Matsushita B., Xu M., Fukushima T. Characterizing the changes in landscape structure in the Lake Kasumigaura Basin, Japan using a high-quality GIS dataset. Landscape and Urban Planning, 2006; 78(3): 241–250. Reshetylo O. Fragmentation of animal habitats: consequences and approaches to its evaluation. In: Condition and biodiversity of ecosystems of Shatskyi National Nature Park. Lviv: Spolom, 2014: 67–68. (In Ukrainian). Reshetylo O.S., Mykitchak T.I. Road mortality of amphibians in Lviv region: problem status and estimating criteria. Vestnik Zoologii, 2008; 42(4): 315–323. (In Ukrainian). Tsaryk J. Urbanization as a factor for insularization of plant populations. In: Urbanization as a factor for changes in biogeocoenotic cover. Lviv: Academic Express, 1994: 12–13. (In Ukrainian). Tsaryk J. Insularization of plant populations and some of its consequences. Scientific Visnyk of State University of Forestry, 1999; 9(9): 202–206. (In Ukrainian). Zagorodniuk I. Animals road mortality: the evaluation of vehicle impact on populations of wild and domestic animals. Fauna in Anthropogenic Environment, 2006; 8: 120–125. (In Ukrainian).


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2015 Studia biologica

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.