Multi-scale assessment of forest cover in an agricultural landscape of Southeastern Brazil: Implications for management and conservation of stream habitat and water quality

Autor(es)

de Paula, Felipe Rossetti ^{[1, 2]} ; Gerhard, Pedro ^{[3, 4]} ; de Barros Ferraz, Silvio Frosini ^[5] ; Wenger, Seth J. ^[6]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Sao Paulo State Univ Julio De Mesquita Filho, Rio Claro Biosci Inst, Dept Ecol, Av 24-A, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ British Columbia, Dept Forest & Conservat Sci, Fac Forestry, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 - Canada

^[3] Brazilian Agr Res Corporat, Nat Resources Management Themat Grp Embrapa Amazo, Tray Doutor Eneas Pinheiro S-N, CP 48, BR-66095100 Belem, PA - Brazil

^[4] Brazilian Agr Res Corporat, Embrapa Monitoramento Satelite, Avenida Soldado Passarinho 303, CP 48, BR-13070115 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Luiz Queiroz Coll Agr, Dept Forest Sci, Av Pcidua Dias 11, CP 9, BR-13418900 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[6] Univ Georgia, Odwn Sch Ecol, Athens, GA 30602 - USA

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS; v. 85, p. 1181-1191, FEB 2018.
• Citações Web of Science: 6

Resumo

Forest cover has important functions for streams. Consequently, deforestation and forest degradation due to agricultural activities tend to have negative impacts on stream ecosystems. We related forest cover to stream variables, expecting to find better habitat and water quality conditions in catchments with better forest cover conditions in order to evaluate forest cover as indicator of stream health in agricultural landscapes. We sampled stream variables and quantified forest cover and physical variables in 60 small agricultural catchments in Southeast Brazil. We used redundancy and regression analysis to relate the landscape predictors to the channel responses. Percent forest cover had low to intermediate values in the spatial scales evaluated. Forest cover was fragmented and mostly located in riparian and steep slope areas. Redundancy analysis showed little influence of forest cover on the response variables, which were more influenced by catchment physical variables. Regression analysis showed that forest cover in the reach and forests located closer to the sampled reach are positively related to wood, habitat diversity, and dissolved oxygen, and negatively related to channel depth, volume, and temperature. We also found that forest cover fragmentation is negatively related to pH, potassium, water acidity, and temperature. Although many of these relationships were fairly weak, it appears that naturally regenerated forest cover is at least moderately effective in protecting streams in agricultural landscapes in the region. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 00/14284-0 - Comunidade de peixes de riachos em função da paisagem da Bacia do Rio Piracicaba, estado de São Paulo
• Beneficiário: Pedro Gerhard
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 07/06794-8 - Avaliação da influência da estrutura da paisagem ripária e da conectividade da rede hidrográfica na diversidade de peixes de riachos em microbacias da bacia do rio Corumbataí, SP.
• Beneficiário: Felipe Rossetti de Paula
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Mestrado
• Processo FAPESP: 06/04723-3 - Influência da paisagem na entrada de matéria vegetal (troncos) e na estrutura de canais em microbacias da Bacia do Rio Corumbataí, SP
• Beneficiário: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 01/13251-4 - Distribuição e abundância de vertebrados em relação à estrutura da paisagem na bacia do rio Passa-Cinco
• Beneficiário: Luciano Martins Verdade
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular