Entropy increase of fragmented habitats:A sign of human impact?

Analysis of a recently validated fragmentation index, named ‘coherence’, shows a direct relationship with the Simpson and Shannon indices. Since these diversity metrics are also denoted as ‘entropy metrics’, it can be accepted that patch size heterogeneity can adequately be described by an entropy metric. Since both indices are used to determine the entropy of a sample, the Brillouin index should be applied instead to correctly determine the entropy of a landscape pattern, this because this latter index is developed for fully censused data sets, such as landscapes when a complete coverage by cartographic data or imagery is available. Calculation of the Brillouin entropy index for three specific sites located in Cadiz Township (USA), the Poole Basin (Dorset, UK) and Sao Paulo State (Brazil), respectively, and using long-term data of patch size diversity, reveals increasing entropy levels associated with anthropogenic land cover dynamics (fragmentation). The observed entropy trends defy the laws of thermodynamics and signal the impact of human action on landscape integrity. The contiguous spatial structure of natural vegetations, built up during millennia, is then converted into a disordered pattern of small, isolated patches of unequal size, often without interior habitat which is unfavorable for biodiversity dynamic and conservation.