Spatial pattern of coniferous and deciduous forest patches in an Eastern North America agricultural landscape: the influence of land use and physicalattributes

In agricultural landscapes, most studies have investigated the influence of the spatial pattern of forest patches on other ecological phenomena and pr ocesses, such as animal movement and biodiversity. However, few have focuse d on explaining the spatial pattern of the forest patches themselves. Under standing how these patterns relate to the processes that generate them is f undamental in developing a sound theory of landscape ecology, and in devisi ng rational management strategies. In this paper, the pattern of the overal l forest patches, as well as the pattern of deciduous and coniferous patche s in an agricultural landscape of Southern Quebec, Canada, were analyzed an d related to landscape physical attributes and land use, using remote sensi ng, geographic information systems and statistical methods. Results show th at the role of landscape physical attributes on forest patch pattern has be en modified by land use. In the study area, coniferous or deciduous patches are not associated with a specific surface deposit. In addition, physical attributes explain only a small proportion of the abundance of conifers on past abandoned land compared with land-use factors. Physical attributes onl y indirectly influence the forest pattern because they strongly influence t he land-use practices. Our results reveal a conifer recovery process with t he abandonment of agricultural land. On past abandoned land, conifers expan d with increasing stand age, mostly by invasion from neighboring coniferous patches. Spatially, coniferous patches are usually located on the margins of the overall forest patches, and they are connected to non-forest land-us e types such as crop and pasture, the latter being the most important. By s howing the importance of some coniferous forest types that did not exist in the precolonial forest, a new perspective emerges when landscape, especial ly, land-use dynamics are taken into account.