The Cerrado biome in Brazil is a tropical savanna and an important global biodiversity hot spot. Today, only a fraction of its original area remains undisturbed, and this habitat is at risk of conversion to agriculture, especially to soybeans. Here, we present the first quantitative analysis of expanding the Soy Moratorium (SoyM) from the Brazilian Amazon to the Cerrado biome. The SoyM expansion to the Cerrado would prevent the direct conversion of 3.6 million ha of native vegetation to soybeans by 2050. Nationally, this would require a reduction in soybean area of approximately 2%. Relative risk of future native vegetation conversion for soybeans would be driven by the Brazilian domestic market, China, and the European Union. We conclude that, to preserve the Cerrado’s biodiversity and ecosystem services, urgent action is required, including a zero native vegetation conversion agreement such as the SoyM.

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We investigated the daily activity patterns of four species of small mammals in an area of cerrado habitat in central Brazil. We checked live traps at 3-hour intervals during the night. Bolomys lasiurus and Calomjis tenet (Rodentia, Muridae), two potential competitors, differed significantly in their daily activity patterns. Bolomys lasiurus had peaks during the twilight, whereas C. tener had a more constant activity through the night, with a peak between 2200 and 0100 h. Thalpomys cerradensis (Rodentia, Muridae) was more active immediately after sunset and in the last three hours before sunrise. Thylamys velutinus (Marsupialia, Marmosidae) was strictly nocturnal with greater activity early in the night. Other factors, such as predation pressure or diet, may be important in determining the activity patterns observed in this study.

Around 55% of all Brazilian cattle production is located in the Cerrado biome, which also contains the largest pasture area in Brazil. Previous studies indicated that about 60% of these pastures were degraded by 2010. However, up-to-date and more precise estimates are necessary to access the extent and degree of degradation of the Cerrado pastures, since these areas constitute strategic land reserves for both livestock intensification and soybean expansion. Therefore, in this study, we estimated the area of degraded pastures in the Cerrado by analyzing the trends of cumulative NDVI anomalies over time used as a proxy for pasture degradation. The generated slope surface was segmented into two classes, comprising non-degraded and degraded pastures, which were correlated with socio-economic and biophysical variables. According to our study, around 39% of the Cerrado pastures are currently degraded, encompassing 18.2 million hectares, mostly in areas with a cattle carrying capacity below 1.0 AU ha−1. These areas, distributed in the northwest Cerrado, mostly within the Brazilian states of Maranhão, Piauí, and Bahia (i.e., Matopiba region), tend to be associated with decreasing rainfall patterns and low investments in soil conservation practices. The degraded areas also tend to be concentrated in municipalities with low human development indices (HDI).

We present a list of squamate reptiles from Parque Nacional da Emas (PNE), ten neighbor private properties and Parque Estadual Nascentes do Rio Taquari, states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul. The study area encompasses the headwaters of Araguaia and Taquari river basins and part of Paranaíba River Basin, resulting in significant habitat heterogeneity. Inside PNE, we recorded 74 squamate species: 47 snakes, 21 lizards and six amphisbaenians. If we consider also the neighboring areas, richness value raises to 87 species: 54 snakes, 27 lizards and six amphisbaenians. From these, 52 % of the lizards, 19 % of the snakes and 33 % of the amphisbaenians are Cerrado endemics. Forest-specialist species are more common outside than inside PNE. Additional species are expected to occur in the PNE region, in view of their known geographical ranges.