Structural fragmentation of high-canopy tropical forests revealed by canopy height stratification and landscape pattern analysis

May 1, 2026Scientia Sinica VitaeOpen Access

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Key Points

This research aims to explore the spatial structure differences in tropical forests based on canopy height stratification and fragmentation analysis.
Developed a structured framework integrating canopy height information with traditional two-dimensional fragmentation metrics.
Analyzed high-resolution canopy height data in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, utilizing multiple strata (5-30 m) at a 1 km×1 km grid scale.
Calculated landscape metrics including number of patches, mean patch area, and edge density.
Forest area significantly shrank with increasing canopy height levels, with forests ≥30 m comprising less than 10% of the total.
Notable changes in landscape patterns were observed for mid to high canopy heights (15-20 m), including increased number of patches, decreased mean patch area, and increased edge density.
Approximately 33.7% of forests with canopy height ≥20 m are found in highly fragmented spatial units, indicating a high degree of spatial isolation.

Analyzes spatial structure of canopy heights in tropical forests, suggesting new metrics for forest management.

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Zhang et al. (2026) studied this question.

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