Heating a biodiversity hotspot: connectivity is more important than remaining habitat

Grande, Thallita Oliveira de; Aguiar, Ludmilla M. S.; Machado, Ricardo B.

doi:10.1007/s10980-020-00968-z

Cited by 38 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…The total area of IFs in 1956 was 27,832.82 ha, representing 1.62% of the total surface, of which only 11,622.49 ha remains nowadays, a reduction of a 58.24% and with a representation of only 0.62% of the territory. A comparable dramatic reduction over a short period of time has also been reported in Brazilian Cerrado (tropical savannah) where 23.9% of natural patches have been lost in 17 years [16]. In addition, the mean area of the Guadalquivir valley IFs nowadays has shrunk from 28.55 ha to 16.04 ha.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 64%

“…Although the creation of ecological corridors could improve the connectivity of this over-occupied landscape, the possibilities are now more limited than in 1956; success is far from guaranteed, and the cost effectiveness of the implementation of such a project could well be minimal. Further, landscape connectivity is lost when the threshold dispersion distance (α = 500 m) is surpassed, or the remaining IFs fall (low dPCintra) below a threshold [16]. Unfortunately, many missing areas detected in 1956 are now impossible to recover because they are highly profitable arable land and reversion is only possible through means beyond our control.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…IFs are an important core for ecological succession in the recovery of some areas of abandoned cultivation, and/or the creation of ecological corridors allowing species flow through the landscape [16].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fragmentation and Connectivity of Island Forests in Agricultural Mediterranean Environments: A Comparative Study between the Guadalquivir Valley (Spain) and the Apulia Region (Italy)

Hidalgo

Hernández

Sánchez-Almendro

et al. 2021

Forests

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Habitat loss and fragmentation are considered some the main threats to biodiversity. Original forests have suffered an accentuated fragmentation and agricultural homogenization, leaving only some areas of natural vegetation, relegated to strongly anthropized disconnected patches (island forests, IFs) in a hostile matrix. These patches of original vegetation could be the key for the design and management of ecological corridors to promote species migration, an essential strategy for meeting the consequences of Global Change. This study proposes a comparative analysis of the fragmentation and connectivity of IFs of Quercus in two typically Mediterranean areas of predominantly agricultural use: the Guadalquivir valley (Spain) and the Apulia region (Italy). A retrospective comparison is also carried out in the Guadalquivir valley. The aim is to develop an objective new methodology to locate the patches of most interest using quantitative and qualitative data. Reference cartography of current island forests of Quercus species was developed from several digital sources and validated with orthoimages and field observations. Fragmentation analysis was based on graph structures using the software Conefor 2.6, a reliable tool for assessment of the role of patches in the landscape. Area and distance were used as node and connector values. Dispersion distance was established as 500 m, based on the maximum dispersion of acorns. Results indicate that the Guadalquivir valley has suffered an intensive fragmentation in recent decades. Both the Guadalquivir and Apulia regions host some IFs with the relevant potential to contribute as core habitats in the creation of connections to other natural protected sites. Many residual IFs in the landscape could contribute as stepping stones in the design and management of ecological corridors. Our methodology highlights the value of IFs to develop assessment strategies using homogenized available digital cartography and common criteria for the dispersion distances in graph theory analysis. The application of this new methodology could help in the management of protected sites using highly fragmented areas to allow the species movement through inhospitable landscapes in a unique opportunity to connect the different protected areas.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 64%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fragmentation and Connectivity of Island Forests in Agricultural Mediterranean Environments: A Comparative Study between the Guadalquivir Valley (Spain) and the Apulia Region (Italy)

Hidalgo

Hernández

Sánchez-Almendro

et al. 2021

Forests

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“…Changes to floodplain land use and hydrology are likely to cause a loss of connectivity, which has been recognised as a considerable threat to the survival of many species across different ecosystems (Grande et al, 2020; Nielsen et al, 2020; Sala et al, 2000) including floodplain wetlands (Pettit et al, 2017). Water infrastructure, such as dams, can greatly alter the magnitude, frequency and duration of floods (Magilligan & Nislow, 2005), and thus increase habitat fragmentation and impair connectivity (Grill et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of water resource development on connectivity and primary productivity across a tropical river floodplain

Molinari

Stewart‐Koster

Malthus

et al. 2022

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Floodplain wetlands provide an important subsidy for riverine food webs as sites of high algal production. However, this subsidy depends on the degree of landscape connectivity during flood pulses, which provides the opportunity for movement of higher order consumers between rivers and floodplains to access these productive habitats. Changes in floodplain inundation extent and duration, due to variable wet season flows or water resource development (WRD), can impact landscape connectivity and ultimately the magnitude of the food web subsidy.2. We explored landscape connectivity using graph theory and derived four new metrics to measure how different flow scenarios can affect connectivity and algal production. We considered a historic scenario with the present level of water resource development in our study area, the Mitchell River, and a WRD scenario with the inclusion of three new dams in the catchment. We generated 240 unique daily spatial graphs, using surface water inundation maps across 40day flood events to compare a dry year (2006), an average flow year (2001) and a wet year (2009) with and without a WRD scenario.3. Drier years and WRD scenario resulted in floodplain fragmentation, potentially constraining the movement of higher order consumers. Changes in connectivity due to WRD resulted in predicted reductions of up to 26% of algal production on the floodplain that was otherwise connected to the main river channels. Synthesis and applications.The approach developed in this study provides new metrics to identify how changes in floodplain surface water extent due to water resource development and climatic variation may impact ecosystem function such as connectivity that facilitates access of higher order consumers to primary production in floodplain wetlands. With a direct link to river flow alteration, these metrics can inform catchment planning and management to ensure that the conservation of floodplain ecosystem functions is adequately considered in water resource management decisions.

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“…Mais recentemente, o Projeto de Mapeamento Anual da Cobertura e Uso do Solo no Brasil (MapBiomas), uma iniciativa em rede colaborativa formada por organizações não governamentais, universidades públicas, institutos de pesquisa e empresas privadas, deu início ao mapeamento dos biomas brasileiros em escala nacional, produzindo mapeamentos anuais de uso e cobertura do solo desde 1985, a partir de imagens da série histórica do satélite Landsat que são processadas pelas técnicas de machine learning na plataforma Google Earth Engine (GEE) (Alencar et al 2020;Grande, Aguiar & Machado 2020;Souza et al 2020;Wang et al 2020).…”

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Desempenho do Algoritmo de Classificação de Imagens Random Forest para Mapeamento do Uso e Cobertura do Solo no Cerrado Brasileiro

et al. 2021

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The Cerrado is a highly diversified ecosystem and provides habitat for many species, however, it has undergoing marked degradation in recent decades due to the expansion of agricultural commodity production. This scenario reinforces the need for continuous monitoring of land use and land cover (LULC) changes, whether with a focus on environmentally sustainable agricultural production or market understanding. Recently, machine learning algorithms have become a promising and innovative approach to remote sensing data processing. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the potential of the Random Forest image classification algorithm for LULC mapping and classification in the Brazilian Cerrado. The selected study area was the municipalities of Natividade, Chapada da Natividade, and São Valério da Natividade, located in the state of Tocantins. The basic materials of this study were the digital elevation model produced by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), the night light images obtained by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor onboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) and NOAA-20 satellites, and the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager satellite (OLI) multispectral images acquired from May to October 2013. All analyzes were performed on the Google Earth Engine platform that allows cloud computing. A cube of images was generated containing 38 layers that were classified by the Random Forest algorithm, with 500 decision trees. For the algorithm training, random points from each LULC class mapped by the TerraClass Cerrado 2013 project were used. Considering the TerraClass Cerrado 2013 mapping as the ground truth, a Kappa index of 0.64 was obtained. There was a significant overestimation of annual cropland and urban areas. The proposed methodology presented a good potential for less expensive and less time demanding LULC mapping of the Cerrado.

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Heating a biodiversity hotspot: connectivity is more important than remaining habitat

Cited by 38 publications

References 65 publications

Fragmentation and Connectivity of Island Forests in Agricultural Mediterranean Environments: A Comparative Study between the Guadalquivir Valley (Spain) and the Apulia Region (Italy)

Fragmentation and Connectivity of Island Forests in Agricultural Mediterranean Environments: A Comparative Study between the Guadalquivir Valley (Spain) and the Apulia Region (Italy)

Impact of water resource development on connectivity and primary productivity across a tropical river floodplain

Desempenho do Algoritmo de Classificação de Imagens Random Forest para Mapeamento do Uso e Cobertura do Solo no Cerrado Brasileiro

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