Coupled Networks of Permanent Protected Areas and Dynamic Conservation Areas for Biodiversity Conservation Under Climate Change

The complexity of climate change impacts on ecological processes necessitates flexible and adaptive conservation strategies that cross traditional disciplines. Current strategies involving protected areas are predominantly fixed in space, and may on their own be inadequate under climate change. Here, we propose a novel approach to climate adaptation that combines permanent protected areas with temporary conservation areas to create flexible networks. Previous work has tended to consider permanent and dynamic protection as separate actions, but their integration could draw on the strengths of both approaches to improve biodiversity conservation and help manage for ecological uncertainty in the coming decades. As there are often time lags in the establishment of new permanent protected areas, the inclusion of dynamic conservation areas within permanent networks could provide critical transient protection to mitigate land-use changes and biodiversity redistributions. This integrated approach may be particularly useful in highly human-modified and fragmented landscapes where areas of conservation value are limited and long-term place-based protection is unfeasible. To determine when such an approach may be feasible, we propose the use of a decision framework. Under certain scenarios, these coupled networks have the potential to increase spatio-temporal network connectivity and help maintain biodiversity and ecological processes under climate change. Implementing these networks would require multidisciplinary scientific evidence, new policies, creative funding solutions, and broader acceptance of a dynamic approach to biodiversity conservation

Coupled networks of permanent protected areas and dynamic conservation areas for biodiversity conservation under climate change

The complexity of climate change impacts on ecological processes necessitates flexible and adaptive conservation strategies that cross traditional disciplines. Current strategies involving protected areas are predominantly fixed in space, and may on their own be inadequate under climate change. Here, we propose a novel approach to climate adaptation that combines permanent protected areas with temporary conservation areas to create flexible networks. Previous work has tended to consider permanent and dynamic protection as separate actions, but their integration could draw on the strengths of both approaches to improve biodiversity conservation and help manage for ecological uncertainty in the coming decades. As there are often time lags in the establishment of new permanent protected areas, the inclusion of dynamic conservation areas within permanent networks could provide critical transient protection to mitigate land-use changes and biodiversity redistributions. This integrated approach may be particularly useful in highly human-modified and fragmented landscapes where areas of conservation value are limited and long-term place-based protection is unfeasible. To determine when such an approach may be feasible, we propose the use of a decision framework. Under certain scenarios, these coupled networks have the potential to increase spatio-temporal network connectivity and help maintain biodiversity and ecological processes under climate change. Implementing these networks would require multidisciplinary scientific evidence, new policies, creative funding solutions, and broader acceptance of a dynamic approach to biodiversity conservation

ATLANTIC-CAMTRAPS: a dataset of medium and large terrestrial mammal communities in the Atlantic Forest of South America

Our understanding of mammal ecology has always been hindered by the difficulties of observing species in closed tropical forests. Camera trapping has become a major advance for monitoring terrestrial mammals in biodiversity rich ecosystems. Here we compiled one of the largest datasets of inventories of terrestrial mammal communities for the Neotropical region based on camera trapping studies. The dataset comprises 170 surveys of medium to large terrestrial mammals using camera traps conducted in 144 areas by 74 studies, covering six vegetation types of tropical and subtropical Atlantic Forest of South America (Brazil and Argentina), and present data on species composition and richness. The complete dataset comprises 53,438 independent records of 83 species of mammals, includes 10 species of marsupials, 15 rodents, 20 carnivores, eight ungulates and six armadillos. Species richness averaged 13 species (±6.07 SD) per site. Only six species occurred in more than 50% of the sites: the domestic dog Canis familiaris, crab-eating fox Cerdocyon thous, tayra Eira barbara, south American coati Nasua nasua, crab-eating raccoon Procyon cancrivorus and the nine-banded armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus. The information contained in this dataset can be used to understand macroecological patterns of biodiversity, community, and population structure, but also to evaluate the ecological consequences of fragmentation, defaunation, and trophic interactions. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of Americ

Relative effects of fragment size and connectivity on bird community in the Atlantic Rain Forest: Implications for conservation

It is known that large fragment sizes and high connectivity levels are key components for maintaining species in fragments; however, their relative effects are poorly understood, especially in tropical areas. In order to test these effects, we built models for explaining understory birds occurrence in a fragmented Atlantic Rain Forest landscape with intermediate habitat cover (3%). Data from over 9000 mist-net hours from 17 fragments differing in size (2-175 ha) and connectivity (considering corridor linkages and distance to nearby fragments) were ranked under a model selection approach. A total 1293 individuals of 62 species were recorded. Species richness, abundance and compositional variation were mainly affected by connectivity indices that consider the capacity of species to use corridors and/or to cross short distances up to 30 m through the matrix. Bird functional groups were differently affected by area and connectivity: while terrestrial insectivores, omnivores and frugivores were affected by both area and connectivity, the other groups (understory insectivores, nectarivores, and others) were affected only by connectivity. In the studied landscape, well connected fragments can sustain an elevated number of species and individuals. Connectivity gives the opportunity for individuals to use multiple fragments, reducing the influence of fragment size. While preserving large fragments is a conservation target worldwide and should continue to be, our results indicated that connectivity between fragments can enhance the area functionally connected and is beneficial to all functional groups and therefore should be a conservation priority. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation[FAPESP n. 99/05123-4]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)The National Council for Scientific and Technological DevelopmentThe National Council for Scientific and Technological Development[CNPq n. 69014416

Rediscovery of the rare Phrynomedusa appendiculata (Lutz, 1925) (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) from the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil

Moraes, Leandro J. C. L., Baêta, Délio, Amaro, Renata C., Martensen, Alexandre C., Pavan, Dante (2022): Rediscovery of the rare Phrynomedusa appendiculata (Lutz, 1925) (Anura: Phyllomedusidae) from the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. Zootaxa 5087 (4): 522-540, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5087.4.

Site selection for restoration planning: A protocol with landscape and legislation based alternatives

Selecting sites for ecological restoration Is an imperative, although challenging task. We developed a spatially explicit model to support site design and prioritization towards ecological restoration. We considered seven distinct and flexible templates, two based on legislation requirements and five on landscape spatial parameters, such as corridor design, enhancements in patch size and shape, and proximity to larger sources areas, thus, with different resilience capacities. We tested the approach on two different scales of analysis: applying the legislation based templates in the Atlantic Plateau of São Paulo, which is part of the Atlantic Forest biome, and the landscape based templates in one of its sub-watersheds (∼ 150,000 ha), and then calculated landscape indexes to compare the current forest configuration to the resulted simulated restored ones. We showed that our protocol is flexible, transparent and repeatable, thus, could help in decision making towards conservation management

Comparing species and measures of landscape structure as indicators of conservation importance

P>1. The use of indicators to identify areas of conservation importance has been challenged on several grounds, but nonetheless retains appeal as no more parsimonious approach exists. Among the many variants, two indicator strategies stand out: the use of indicator species and the use of metrics of landscape structure. While the first has been thoroughly studied, the same cannot be said about the latter. We aimed to contrast the relative efficacy of species-based and landscape-based indicators by: (i) comparing their ability to reflect changes in community integrity at regional and landscape spatial scales, (ii) assessing their sensitivity to changes in data resolution, and (iii) quantifying the degree to which indicators that are generated in one landscape or at one spatial scale can be transferred to additional landscapes or scales. 2. We used data from more than 7000 bird captures in 65 sites from six 10 000-ha landscapes with different proportions of forest cover in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Indicator species and landscape-based indicators were tested in terms of how effective they were in reflecting changes in community integrity, defined as deviations in bird community composition from control areas. 3. At the regional scale, indicator species provided more robust depictions of community integrity than landscape-based indicators. At the landscape scale, however, landscape-based indicators performed more effectively, more consistently and were also more transferable among landscapes. The effectiveness of high resolution landscape-based indicators was reduced by just 12% when these were used to explain patterns of community integrity in independent data sets. By contrast, the effectiveness of species-based indicators was reduced by 33%. 4. Synthesis and applications. The use of indicator species proved to be effective; however their results were variable and sensitive to changes in scale and resolution, and their application requires extensive and time-consuming field work. Landscape-based indicators were not only effective but were also much less context-dependent. The use of landscape-based indicators may allow the rapid identification of priority areas for conservation and restoration, and indicate which restoration strategies should be pursued, using remotely sensed imagery. We suggest that landscape-based indicators might often be a better, simpler, and cheaper strategy for informing decisions in conservation.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fapesp[99/05123-4]BMBFBundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)CNPq[590041/2006-1]Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)CAPESPetrobras[1981]Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (PETROBRAS)Global Environment FacilityGlobal Environment Facilit

Data from: Monitoramento Independente da Cobertura Florestal das Bacias Setentrionais do Extremo Sul da Bahia

O presente relatório apresenta refere-se à conclusão do projeto de mapeamento das bacias setentrionais do Extremo Sul da Bahia, compreendendo uma área total de 2.300.000 ha. Foram mapeadas imagens de alta resolução para os anos de 1996 (1 milhão de ha) e 2006/2007 (2,3 milhão de ha), e de baixa resolução para os anos de 1990 e 2002. Para realização do presente mapeamento foram utilizadas todas as informações registradas em campo com auxílio de GPS (3700 pontos), referente aos principais tipos de cobertura vegetal e de uso do solo da região. Também contou com a experiência regional dos coordenadores das equipes de trabalho, tanto em Porto Seguro quanto Ilhéus, além de consultores especializados neste tipo de serviço executado, bem como com vasta experiência de campo na região

Maps South of Bahia from 1990, 1996, 2001 and 2007

Maps South of Bahia from 1990, 1996, 2001 and 200