The Atlantic Forest of South America: Spatiotemporal dynamics of the vegetation and implications for conservation

Author(s)

Vancine, Mauricio Humberto ; Muylaert, Renata L. ; Niebuhr, Bernardo Branda ; Oshima, Julia Emi de Faria ; Tonetti, Vinicius ; Bernardo, Rodrigo ; De Angelo, Carlos ; Rosa, Marcos Reis ; Grohmann, Carlos Henrique ; Ribeiro, Milton Cezar

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Biological Conservation; v. 291, p. 15-pg., 2024-02-28.

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest in South America (AF) is one of the world's most diverse and threatened biodiversity hotspots. We present a comprehensive spatiotemporal analysis of 34 years of AF landscape change between 1986 and 2020. We analyzed landscape metrics of forest vegetation only (FV), forest plus other natural vegetation (NV), and the sensitivity of metrics to linear infrastructure. Currently, the AF remnants comprise 22.9% of FV and 36.3% of NV, an extent that has decreased by 2.4% and 3.6% since 1986, respectively. Linear infrastructure affected mainly the largest fragments (>500,000 ha), reducing their size by 56%-94%. The period before 2005 was characterized by loss of FV and NV (3% and 3.43%) and decrease in the number of FV and NV fragments (8.6% and 8.1%). In contrast, after 2005 the vegetation stabilized, with a recovery of 1 Mha of FV (0.6%) and an increase in the number of fragments, due in part to environmental policies. However, the AF is still a highly fragmented domain: 97% of the vegetation fragments are small (<50 ha), with an average fragment size between 16.3 and 25.5 ha; 50-60% of the vegetation is <90 m from its edges, and the isolation between fragments is high (250-830 m). Protected areas and indigenous territories cover only 10% of the AF vegetation, and most vegetation lies are >10 km in these areas. Our work highlights the importance of legislation and analysis of landscape dynamics to help future conservation and restoration programs for biodiversity in the Atlantic Forest. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 21/08534-0 - Biodiversity and associated ecosystem services: LTER Corridor of Cantareira Mantiqueira
• Grantee: Milton Cezar Ribeiro
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 21/10639-5 - Center for Research on Biodiversity Dynamics and Climate Change
• Grantee: Leonor Patricia Cerdeira Morellato
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers - RIDC
• FAPESP's process: 21/08322-3 - Visual analytics of environmental data collected with passive acoustic monitoring
• Grantee: Maria Cristina Ferreira de Oliveira
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 21/02132-8 - Assessing turbine collision hazard for the Lear's macaw and four vulture species in the Caatinga
• Grantee: Julia Emi de Faria Oshima
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 13/02883-7 - Effect of fragmentation on the persistence of anuran amphibians (Amphibia: Anura) within the Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Maurício Humberto Vancine
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• FAPESP's process: 20/01779-5 - Biodiversity in the Anthropocene: agroecosystem effects on biodiversity conservation and ecosystem function maintenance
• Grantee: Milton Cezar Ribeiro
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 17/09676-8 - Effect of landscape modifications and climate changes on the persistence of amphibians in the Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Maurício Humberto Vancine
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• FAPESP's process: 21/10195-0 - Contribution of payment for ecosystem services on multi-dimensions within Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Milton Cezar Ribeiro
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 13/50421-2 - New sampling methods and statistical tools for biodiversity research: integrating animal movement ecology with population and community ecology
• Grantee: Milton Cezar Ribeiro
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 22/01899-6 - Landscape structure as a predictor of taxonomic and functional diversity of amphibians in the Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Maurício Humberto Vancine
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 22/10760-1 - Biodiversity in the Anthropocene: a synthesis on the effect of agriculture expansion within Cerrado and Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Milton Cezar Ribeiro
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - Brazil
• FAPESP's process: 14/23132-2 - Movement ecology and spatial distribution of a large herbivore in heterogeneous tropical landscapes
• Grantee: Julia Emi de Faria Oshima
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate