Landscape disruption in a fragmented world: A critical global analysis

This study provides a comprehensive global assessment of land-use change and landscape fragmentation over a 30-year period (1992-2022), integrating spatial metrics across 37 land-cover types and multiple geopolitical regions. Using high-resolution Copernicus land-cover datasets, we quantified changes in number of patches, mean patch size, and size of the largest patch to evaluate structural shifts in landscapes. The results reveal a global trend toward increased fragmentation, with a 10.3% rise in patch number, a 9.2% decline in mean patch size, and a 40% reduction in the size of the largest patch. The most severe fragmentation trends occurred in tropical biodiversity hotspots, particularly in South America, Central Africa, and South-Eastern Asia, and are likely associated with processes such as agricultural expansion, deforestation, and infrastructure development. Even in regions where natural cover is stable or increasing, such as parts of Europe and China, landscapes may still experience increasing structural fragmentation, which has been widely associated with reduced connectivity, alterations in ecological processes, and increased vulnerability of specialist species. Patterns vary regionally: in developed regions, fragmentation is often linked to long-term landscape subdivision and land-use intensity, whereas in tropical developing regions, large intact habitats are being rapidly reduced. The findings underscore the necessity of conservation strategies that address both habitat area and spatial configuration, promoting ecological corridors, heterogeneous agricultural matrices, and multifunctional agroforestry systems. By combining temporal depth and thematic breadth, we offer novel insights into the structural transformation of global landscapes, informing policy and sustainable land-management efforts in the face of accelerating global change.