The Landscape Fragmentation Tool (LFT v2.0) maps the types of fragmentation present in a specified land cover type (i.e. forest). This land cover type is classified into 4 main categories - patch, edge, perforated,and core - based on a specified edge width. The edge width indicates the distance over which other land covers (i.e. urban) can degrade the land cover type of interest (i.e. forest). The core pixels are outside the "edge effect" and thus are not degraded from proximity to other land cover types. Core pixels are subclassified into 3 categories - small core, medium core, and large core - based on the area of a given core patch. Edge and perforated pixels occur along the periphery of tracts containing core pixels. Edge pixels make up the exterior peripheries of the tracts whereas perforated pixels make up the interior edges along small gaps in the tracts. Patch pixels make up small fragments that are completely degraded by the edge effect. While the LFT tool was designed to analyze fragmentation in forest, it can be used to map fragmentation in any land cover of interest.
The Landscape Fragmentation Tool v2.0 is a python script that runs out of ArcToolbox in ArcGIS 9.3 or NEW ArcGIS 10.0. Two versions of the v2.0 are available - one requires the Spatial Analyst extension, the other does not. The tool is based on research done by Vogt et al (2007).
Jason R. Parent and James D. Hurd
Laboratory for Earth Resources Information Systems
Center for Land use Education and Research
Dept. of Natural Resources Management and Engineering
University of Connecticut