Landscape fragmentation assessment utilizing the matrix green toolbox and corine land cover data

While Land Cover data are usually used for visualizing and quantifying the surface coverage properties of a territory, in this study, they are utilized to graphically and numerically assess the landscape fragmentation and/or connect-ability. The main goal of the proposal is to visualize and quantify landscape fragmentation based on CORINE Land Cover (CLC), utilizing the Matrix Green (MG) toolbox in combination with Density Analyst tool of ArcGIS package. MG toolbox is tested here as a responsive technology in assessing landscape fragmentation. Open source CLC data provided via EIONET, of Albanian territory, is used as the main input for this experiment. The specimen target of the study is the broad-leaved forested lands encoded as 311 under CLC classification. The workflow of the process consists of ten steps which are applied to data of three different years: 2000, 2006, and 2012. As a result, two types of outputs are produced. First, a set of maps is generated which visually represents the spatial distribution of patches, links, and indirectly the fragmentation of a specific land cover class. Second, a series of statistical data measuring patch is produced, and edge to edge links quantity in three respective years. Interpretation of the results have led to remarkable conclusions about the proposed methodology and the context analyzed, in the scope of landscape fragmentation assessment.