Quantifying Landscape Spatial Pattern Changes in the Caucasian Black Grouse (Tetrao mlokosiewiczi) Habitat in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve

Large scale land use/cover changes and habitat fragmentation have been associated with the decline of many wildlife populations in ecological sensitive regions. The main goal of this study was to quantify the spatial pattern changes in Caucasian Black Grouse habitat in Arasbaran Biosphere Reserve، Northwest of Iran in a period of 24 years (1987–2011). Caucasian black grouse (Tetrao mlokosiewiczi) in Iran is restricted to the Arasbaran area، and the populations and range of this specialist bird species have been declining over the last decades. This study focuses on the landscape structure changes of black grouse habitat in Arasbaran Biosphere reserve. We used Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite images from 1987 and 2011، and ETM+ from 2001، for analysis of the spatial patterns of land use/cover patches. The satellite images were geometrically corrected and classified. For quantifying landscape pattern changes، various landscape metrics were derived from spatial analysis software FRAGSTATS، including NP (Number of Patches)، LPI (Largest Patch Index) and TE (Total Edge). The results indicated that the proportion of forest was significantly decreased from 39. 95% to 31. 95%، and proportion of grassland was decreased from 44. 45% to 38. 44% during the last 24 years، while proportion of dominated by astragalus was increased from 3. 30% to 15. 65%. Total Edge (TE) was decreased 8000 meters at altitude over 1800 meters. Our result provided quantitative data on habitat loss and landscape fragmentation in Arasbaran Biosphere reserve and indicated negative impacts of the landscape structure changes on Black grouse habitat.