Global trends in forest fragmentation using multiple metrics

Deforestation has exacerbated the fragmentation of habitats into smaller, more isolated patches, driving global declines in biodiversity. Yet, a comprehensive global perspective of the trends in forest fragmentation, and its key drivers in relation to forest cover change remains elusive. To provide a comprehensive global overview of recent changes in forest fragmentation, we compare multiple fragmentation metrics, including those that are sensitive to forest cover and those that are not. Our analysis reveals that, according to cover-sensitive metrics that reflect the ecological implications of forest fragmentation, 52% of the world's forests have become more fragmented over the last two decades, a trend that is primarily attributed to increased deforestation in tropical zones. This value is twice as high than estimates from previous research, which estimated that forest fragmentation is declining across 75% of the global forest area. This discrepancy arises from a mathematical artifact, as previous cover-insensitive metrics equate declines in forest cover with decreased fragmentation. By adjusting for this and focusing on metrics that capture the ecologically relevant aspects of forest fragmentation, our study highlights a worrying trend: the ecological integrity of the global forest system has been significantly deteriorating in recent decades. This underscores the importance of using appropriate metrics to accurately assess the ecological impacts of forest fragmentation, especially in the context of global environmental change.