Rozely Ferreira dos Santos

Utility of landscape mosaics and boundaries in forest conservation decision making in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil

We evaluated changes in the Atlantic Forest landscape over the last 40xa0years based on changes in boundaries and mosaics, including the hypothetical landscape resulting from the application of Brazilian laws for forest protection. Mosaics were identified as sets of land-use patches with a similar pattern of boundaries. Landscapes of different years, therefore, can be distinguished by differences in mosaics. We developed a technique to identify boundaries between patches from land-use maps using ArcGis® and to build the patch x boundary matrix required for mosaic identification by means of a factorial and cluster analysis. The mosaics were characterized by some key uses as well as by their boundaries with other land uses. The mosaics were scored for forest conservation according to five issues: landscape permeability, cover, availability, quality, and fragmentation of forest. The values were based on land use and boundary patterns. Although Brazilian laws regarding forest protection have promoted conservation and the hypothetical legal landscape has presented the highest forest habitat availability, this expansion perpetuates a boundary pattern that complicates conservation and management, thus increasing the pressure on forest patches and favoring the further fragmentation of protected forest patches. These conclusions cannot be reached by simply recording changes in land uses.

Evaluating Landscape Connectivity for Puma concolor and Panthera onca Among Atlantic Forest Protected Areas

Strictly Protected Areas and riparian forests in Brazil are rarely large enough or connected enough to maintain viable populations of carnivores and animal movement over time, but these characteristics are fundamental for species conservation as they prevent the extinction of isolated animal populations. Therefore, the need to maintain connectivity for these species in human-dominated Atlantic landscapes is critical. In this study, we evaluated the landscape connectivity for large carnivores (cougar and jaguar) among the Strictly Protected Areas in the Atlantic Forest, evaluated the efficiency of the Mosaics of Protected Areas linked to land uses in promoting landscape connectivity, identified the critical habitat connections, and predicted the landscape connectivity status under the implementation of legislation for protecting riparian forests. The method was based on expert opinion translated into land use and land cover maps. The results show that the Protected Areas are still connected by a narrow band of landscape that is permeable to both species and that the Mosaics of Protected Areas increase the amount of protected area but fail to increase the connectivity between the forested mountain ranges (Serra do Mar and Serra da Mantiqueira). Riparian forests greatly increase connectivity, more than tripling the cougars’ priority areas. We note that the selection of Brazilian protected areas still fails to create connectivity among the legally protected forest remnants. We recommend the immediate protection of the priority areas identified that would increase the structural landscape connectivity for these large carnivores, especially paths in the SE/NW direction between the two mountain ranges.

Human health risks of forest conservation

In PNAS, Myers et al. (1) present a paper in which they discuss adverse effects of ecosystem degradation on human health. We sincerely think that this is one of the more comprehensive papers in this field, but would like to draw attention to a number of findings from studies on Brazilian forest ecosystems that the authors seem to have overlooked. Conservationists customarily highlight benefits—in terms of goods and services— that result from the protection of natural ecosystems, but they often fail to mention that the latter may also adversely affect human welfare. In their report, Myers et al. indeed convincingly demonstrate that anthropogenic land-use changes can increase the prevalence of several diseases (1), but they overlook the fact that natural forest may also act as wild reservoirs that propitiate disease outbreaks. For example, infections with Rickettsia rickettsii, a major tick-borne zoonotic disease in Brazil that causes spotted fever, mainly occur where humans and dogs live in close contact to forests (2). Additionaly, various vectors of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis (sand flies Lutzomyia spp.) are present in an Atlantic Forest region in the state of Rio de Janeiro that is popular with ecotourists (3). Finally, it has been recently shown that malaria incidence tends to increase with forest cover in the Brazilian Amazon (4). Concealing such patterns may hamper a better understanding of relationships between natural ecosystems and human health risks. Indeed, there are many open questions on relationships between landscape structure and disease dynamics (5). For example, what is the functional role of forest fragments in the maintenance of zoonoses? How does the connectivity of forest fragments influence the dispersal of disease vectors? Neglecting these questions may hamper scenarios to minimize human health risks during, for example, forest conservation and restoration (4). In summary, the purpose of this letter is to urge conservationists to cover the full range of consequences of ecosystem alteration and protection, which may or may not be as anticipated and may or may not contribute to human welfare. In addition to being more ethically correct, we sincerely believe that this impartiality will eventually benefit both man and nature.

Practices and perceptions on water resource sustainability in ecovillages

In many areas of the world, groups of people have attempted to create urban landscapes that follow the principles of environmental sustainability. To this end, groups have devised alternative models, such as ecovillages, where low-impact handling is used and a way of life different from that of large population centers is adopted. Although these villages exist, their efficiency in the conservation of natural resources has not been effectively evaluated. This study evaluated the practices used by two Brazilian ecovillages to conserve water resources to assess whether this new concept of living is indeed successful in meeting sustainability goals. We selected 25 indicators of water sustainability, and using the compromise programming method, we quantified the distance between those landscapes self-referenced as sustainable and an ideal hypothetical scenario. We also interpreted the communities perceptions using the distance between the current situations and the envisioned scenario. We concluded that both ecovillage are far from technically ideal scenario, but the communities have a strong sense of their limitations in implementing water resources conservation. The communities attributed this fact primarily to deficiencies in the shared management.

Landscape changes in Serra do Japi: legal protection or scientific expectation?

La creacion de nuevas areas legalmente protegidas trae muchos conflictos que alejan el paisaje real del que se espera por la legislacion ambiental o por los investigadores en conservacion. En este estudio se cartografiaron y compararon los cambios ocurridos en Serra do Japi (Estado de Sao Paulo, Brasil) a lo largo de 40 anos con escenarios de proteccion legal y de expectativa cientifica sobre la conservacion de bosques, buscando evaluar la distancia entre ellos. Este estudio nos permite inferir acerca de la direccion de cambios historicos y contribuye al debate entre tomadores de decision. Los resultados mostraron que la mayoria de las exigencias legales de proteccion forestal fueron cumplidas en el paisaje. La decada de 1960 fue el periodo con cobertura forestal mas proxima a la deseada para la conservacion. Aunque Serra do Japi ha mantenido grandes areas de bosques en todo el periodo estudiado, la influencia humana se incremento con la expansion de plantaciones forestales, de areas urbanas y principalmente de las carreteras de acceso, identificadas como potenciales fuerzas conductoras de cambio. Ademas, se observo perdida de habitat en el paisaje que puede representar una primera fase de una secuencia de cambios perjudiciales para la conservacion ambiental de esa area protegida. Esto incluye cambios en la decision del uso del suelo. En conclusion, los cambios evolucionaron en direccion a las expectativas de la conservacion, pero no hacia la configuracion de bosques bajo una expectativa cientifica.

Soil properties and neighbouring forest cover affect above‐ground biomass and functional composition during tropical forest restoration

Questions: We studied the importance of soil properties and neighbouring forest cover in affecting plant community biomass and assembly during the tropical forest restoration process. We also investigated how compositional responses depended on traits expected to influence individual success. nLocation: Forest restoration sites across anthropogenic grasslands in mixed use agricultural watersheds, eastern Sao Paulo state, Brazil. nMethods: We identified and measured all woody individuals (DBH >= 5 cm) in four 200-m(2) plots per site. Then we translated these measurements into above-ground biomass (AGB), and related AGB variability to neighbouring forest cover, soil texture and chemical fertility using mixed effect models. We assessed the effect of these predictors on different species groups, arranged according to variation in wood density, tree height or habitat selectivity, through multivariate abundance models. nResults: GB ranged between 0 and 104.7 t/ha (median of 10.4 t/ha), with high variation within, as well as between, watersheds. Sand percentage, forest cover and the interaction between soil nutrient concentrations and sand percentage were good predictors of measured AGB. The most parsimonious model projected a seven growing seasons AGB recovery of 70.90 t/ha, when a site is on fertile soils with 10% sand and surrounded by forest cover of 50%. In contrast, only 5.24 t/ha is predicted on acidic-poor soils with 67% sand and 0% forest cover. Increasing forest cover favoured smaller trees and habitat generalists while increasing sand percentage inhibited taller species and forest specialists. Sand percentage constrained softwoods in fertile soils. nConclusion: Our results confirm that the likelihood of restoration to pre-disturbance conditions is constrained in contexts of higher degradation, such as when agricultural use adversely affects soil properties and/or motivates extreme deforestation. Lower AGB found on sandy soils suggests that forest recovery is sensitive to local drought intensification. Given regional projections for extended dry seasons, restoration approaches could consider targeting alternative reference states, rather than historical/undisturbed ones, under highly altered environments, while aiming to improve soil and microclimate conditions to allow moist tropical forest recovery where feasible.

Boundaries and mosaics: an approach to evaluate changes and to profit landscape planning, São Sebastião Island, SP/Brazil

This study assumed that the spatial identification of mosaics obtained by the analysis of interactions between frontiers over time would be a great strategy to obtain planning units, since the boundaries reveal the changes, heterogeneity and fluxes in a landscape. For this purpose, we selected 16 watersheds in Sao Sebastiao Island (Sao Paulo, BR), mapped the land use and cover (1962 and 2009) and built matrices of patches by boundaries. The analysis of these matrices using multivariate ordination and clustering allowed us to identify mosaics. The mosaics showed very well the temporal diversity of interactions across frontiers and the landscape conservation status, but had limitations to indicate management practices.

Trade-offs among ecosystem services under different pinion harvesting intensities in Brazilian Araucaria Forests

ABSTRACT Assessing the consequences of human exploitation at different intensities on ecosystem services is important in the Brazilian Araucaria Forest biome, because it has been drastically reduced, mainly due to the exploitation of Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze for wood. The inclusion of A. angustifolia on the list of Brazilian endangered plant species places the harvesting of Araucaria nuts as the most important provisioning service in this type of ecosystem. The aim of this study was to determine the trade-offs related to provisioning, supporting and regulating ecosystem services in the Araucaria Forest at different intensities of nut harvesting, by addressing ecosystem attributes that assure forest sustainability. Six indicators of ecosystem services were evaluated in harvested and non-harvested areas in Brazilian Araucaria Forest fragments. Trade-offs were examined under five harvesting intensities. The supporting services were the most sensitive to the harvesting intensity. The results indicate that a harvesting threshold of between 60% and 85% of the nuts produced guarantees forest sustainability. In addition, areas under higher harvesting intensities provide more short-term benefit services at the local scale that can be included in the formal market. EDITED BY John Parrotta

Keystone Species, Forest and Landscape: A Model to Select Protected Areas

The selection of forest fragments for conservation is usually based on spatial parameters as forest size and canopy integrity. This strategy assumes that chosen fragments present high conservation status, ensuring biodiversity and ecological functions. We argue that a well-preserved forest fragment that remains connected by the landscape structure, does not necessarily hold attributes that ensure the presence of keystone species. We also discuss that the presence of keystone species does not always mean that it has the best conditions for its occurrence and maintenance. We developed a model to select areas in forest landscapes to be prioritized for protection based on suitability curves that unify and compare spatial indicators of three categories: forest fragment quality, landscape quality, and environmental conditions for the occurrence of a keystone species. We use a case study to compare different suitability degrees for Euterpe edulis presence, considered an important functional element in Atlantic Forest (São Paulo, Brazil) landscapes and a forest resource for local people. The results show that the identification of medium or advanced stage fragments as singular indicator of forest quality does not guarantee the existence or maintenance of this keystone species. Even in some well-preserved forest fragments, connected to others and with palm presence, the reverse J-shaped distribution of the population size structure is not sustained and these forests continue to be threatened due to human disturbances.