Temperate forests play a key role in biodiversity conservation, climate regulation, and the provision of ecosystem services. However, land-use changes and urban expansion have intensified landscape fragmentation processes, reducing ecological connectivity and ecosystem functionality. Despite the importance of community-owned forests in northern Mexico, evaluations of landscape configuration within these territories remain limited. This study compared land-use and land-cover patterns and fragmentation metrics in four community-managed ejidos in Durango, Mexico, using Landsat imagery from 2000 and 2020. Land-cover maps were produced through supervised classification with a Random Forest algorithm and validated using standard accuracy metrics. Landscape composition, configuration and connectivity were assessed at class and landscape levels using a set of spatial metrics calculated with FRAGSTATS. The results reveal contrasts among ejidos. Ciénega de los Caballos and Navajas show greater representation of secondary vegetation accompanied by changes in patches and edge densities. San retains a more cohesive configuration with comparatively higher aggregation and connectivity, whereas El Tunal y Anexos exhibit stronger subdivision and lower connectivity. These outcomes emphasize the value of spatial metrics for identifying differences in landscape structure between observation years and for supporting comparative assessment in community-managed forest territories. The study provides spatially explicit information that may assist territorial planning and forest management at this scale.
Rivas-González et al. (Fri,) studied this question.