![Sample our Geography journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5937/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Geography.jpg"})
Abstract
Forest fragmentation has several phases; thus, the ecological significance of each phase during a particular period of time must be interpreted. To interpret, this study quantifies the magnitude of forest loss and the changes in the temporal pattern of fragmentation in the State of Selangor, peninsular Malaysia. Using the decision tree model of land transformation, five phases of forest fragmentation were identified: perforation, dissection, dissipation, shrinkage and attrition. This analysis showed that the magnitude of forest loss was the highest during the dissipation phase. The patchiness analysis showed that dissipation contributes to the highest environmental uncertainty found for the forest patches. This study can be considered a first step in the exploration of the properties and the behavioural pattern shown by the spatial process of forest fragmentation.
Acknowledgements
This study was partly funded by Research University Grant UKM-OUP-ASPL-6/2007 courtesy of the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. I would like to thank the anonymous reviewer for comments and suggestions, which helped me to improve the content and presentation of this article.