Forest Fragmentation and Forest Mortality—An In-Depth Systematic Review

Abstract

In recent decades, forest fragmentation has been shown to directly increase forest mortality by increasing stress, damaging habitats, and heightening vulnerability to disturbances. It also disrupts local climates and ecological processes across various regions. Therefore, we aim to summarize the literature on forest fragmentation and forest mortality. The Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database was searched using the PRISMA 2020 framework. We searched for publications from 1990 to 2023 and included research articles that reported on fragmentation and mortality. Out of the 159 articles found, we selected 119 research articles for systematic review. Our review documents that most studies on forest fragmentation and forest mortality tend to be relatively short-term, focused on a local or regional scale, and based on ground survey data. We identified articles from 35 countries and major hotspots for research on forest fragmentation and mortality. The results identified that the most underrepresented biomes are Mediterranean forests, woodlands and shrubs, boreal forests, and tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests. The longer the time horizon of the studies, the more neutral and positive effects of forest fragmentation are reported. These positive effects are more likely to be reported for temperate biomes and studies using field measurements. The study highlighted the importance of adopting a global perspective and integrating diverse methodologies to advance our understanding of forest fragmentation and mortality. Based on our findings, we recommend that future research on forest fragmentation and mortality should have a consistent geographic distribution, use varied methodologies, and perform the efficient integration of existing data types to improve the comparability and reliability of the results.