Forest patch conservation indicators.

Abstract

This work presents indicators to assess the conservation status of forest patches in fragmented landscapes. However, how can we evaluate the conservation status of forest patches in order to compare it to a hypothetical situation of well-preserved vegetation without human disturbance? It is possible to measure some ecological processes, like nutrient cycling, canopy, edaphic, topographic and hydrological parameters, as well as landscape attributes, and associate them to conservation status. When the attributes of original well-preserved forest are unknown because they are seldom found, it is possible to compare patches by assessing the variability of their attributes. To this end, parameters related to canopy, soil, topography and landscape were analyzed to establish indicators and their integrated analysis was developed to assess the conservation status of forest patches and identify possible causes of shortcomings or obstacles to reach the conservation status. The study area is located in a Semidecidual Forest region, in Brazil. The methodology was developed considering plots distributed in sites within forest patches. The results allowed the identification of patches in different conditions of conservation and provided information of the factors that contribute to this status, in order to help guide and select the most appropriate measures to mitigate degradation and identify forest conservation strategies