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Landscape changes in the Cerrado: Challenges of land clearing, fragmentation and land tenure for biological conservation.

Authors :
Pompeu J
Assis TO
Ometto JP
Source :
The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2024 Jan 01; Vol. 906, pp. 167581. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Oct 07.
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

Land clearing, low levels of protection, and high biodiversity make the Brazilian Cerrado a hotspot for biological conservation. However, one of the most active agricultural frontiers in Brazil is located in this region. We thus aimed to evaluate the current trends of deforestation and fragmentation of the Cerrado, from 1986 to 2019; and the contribution of land tenure and farm size to the Cerrado conservation. We divided the Cerrado (∼2 Mkm <superscript>2</superscript> ) into three sub-regions and calculated the distribution and size of the fragments; core areas and edge distance; isolation and importance of the smallest fragments for reducing isolation; and connectivity for the years 1986, 1997, 2008, and 2019. We then evaluated vegetation cover and landscape metrics for public lands and private farms. Since 1986, 22 % of the Cerrado's remnant vegetation was cleared and the number of fragments increased by 20 %. Currently, 10 % of the Cerrado vegetation is under the effect of a 30 m edge. Isolation increased in all the sub-regions and smaller fragments (>100 ha) are important for landscape configuration. 10.82 % of the vegetation is preserved in public lands and 57.9 % in private farms, where 377,901.5 km <superscript>2</superscript> could be legally cleared. Compared to other Brazilian regions, the northern Cerrado is relatively well connected and less fragmented but land clearing still threatens biodiversity. Public lands are important for connectivity and habitat amount but play a minor role when compared to private lands. Our results highlight that avoiding further land clearing of the Cerrado is a challenge that requires the engagement of different stakeholders at different levels.<br />Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.<br /> (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1879-1026
Volume :
906
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
The Science of the total environment
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
37813262
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167581