How Can We Estimate Buffer Zones of Protected Areas? A Proposal Using Biological Data

Alexandre, B; Crouzeilles, Renato; Grelle, Carlos Eduardo Viveiros

doi:10.4322/natcon.00802010

Cited by 30 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(26 reference statements)

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“…Overall, our study contributes with relevant information that highlight the importance of buffer zones for wildlife. As more biological data are obtained, the closer we get to a biologically sound extend of a buffer zone (Tambosi 2008, Alexandre et al 2010, Massara et al 2012). Definitions about this should be clearly stated in the Management Plan of protected areas, as stated by law 9985/2000 (Brasil, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buffer zone use by mammals in a Cerrado protected area

et al. 2016

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Habitat loss and degradation is threatening mammals worldwide. Therefore, Protected Areas (PA) are of utmost importance to preserve biodiversity. Their effectiveness, however, depends on some management strategies such as buffer zones, which prevent/mitigate the impact of external threats and might increase the amount of available habitat for wildlife existing within reserves. Nevertheless, how intensively terrestrial mammals use buffer zones remains little studied, particularly in the Neotropical region. Aiming to analyse the use of a buffer zone (5 km wide) by medium and large-sized mammals, we modelled the occupancy probabilities of five species of conservation concern including local (interior and buffer zone) as a site covariate, simultaneously controlling for imperfect detection. Data collection was made with camera traps from April to September 2013 in a 9000 ha Cerrado PA (“interior”) and in its surrounding area (39721.41 ha; “buffer zone”). This PA (Jataí Ecological Station) is immersed in a landscape where sugarcane plantations predominate in the northeastern of the state of São Paulo. We also conducted an inventory to compare the number and composition of species between interior and buffer zone. A total of 31 mammal species (26 natives) was recorded via camera traps and active search for sightings, vocalizations, tracks and signs. Occupancy estimates for Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Leopardus pardalis and Pecari tajacu were numerically higher in interior. On the other hand, Chrysocyon brachyurus had the highest occupancy in buffer zone, while the largest predator, Puma concolor, used both areas similarly. However, as the confidence intervals (95%) overlapped, the differences in occupancy probabilities between interior and buffer were weak for all these species. Additionally, regarding only the species recorded by cameras, the observed and estimated richness were similar between interior and buffer zone of the PA. Our data demonstrated that the buffer zone is indeed used by medium and large-sized mammals, including conservation-dependent ones. The lack of enforcement of current legislation regarding buffer zones is therefore a real threat for mammals, even when protection is guaranteed in the interior of protected areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buffer zone use by mammals in a Cerrado protected area

et al. 2016

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“…Studies using real data on animal needs or on viability of population size are just beginning in Brazil. Alexandre and collaborators [68], for example, used the marsupial Micoreus paraguayanus as a model for planning the size of the buffer zones in Rio de Janeiro protected areas. According to the Brazilian system of protected areas [22], the size of the buffer zone must be defined by the management plan of each protected area.…”

Section: Implications For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet and Habitat Use by Maned Wolf Outside Protected Areas in Eastern Brazil

Massara

Paschoal

Hirsch

et al. 2012

Tropical Conservation Science

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The maned wolf has been studied in nature reserves, but few researches have been carried out outside protected areas. Since only about 2 % of the Brazilian Cerrado, the maned wolf's main habitat, has been set aside as parks and reserves, determining what is happening with the species in private and disturbed areas is important for an accurate assessment of its vulnerability to extinction. Here we investigated the trophic ecology of a maned wolf population inhabiting a 1610 ha section of the Calçada Ridge, an unprotected area located in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The study site is in the buffer zone (< 10 km) of two protected areas, where anthropogenic (urban areas and roads) and disturbed areas (burned fields) total a third of the study landscape. The main disturbances are mining activities, unregulated ecotourism and road proximity. Fecal samples (n= 95) collected between 2006 and 2008 revealed that the maned wolf frequently used both natural and disturbed fields. The diet was composed mostly of small mammals (9 species, 16.2 % of items and 92.6% of scats) and the plant Solanum lycocarpum (12.2% of items and 89.5% of scats), similar to what has been found in less disturbed areas. Overall diet diversity was, however, lower than has been found elsewhere, probably reflecting the poorer resource base of the study area. These results, together with recent findings from other sources, highlight the importance of buffer zones. They also suggest that the maned wolf is an ecologically flexible species that might be prone to hunt, and perhaps even survive, in disturbed areas outside protected areas. Key words: Chrysocyon brachyurus, Feeding habits, Habitat selection, Scat analysisResumo O lobo-guará têm sido estudado em unidades de conservação, mas poucas pesquisas têm sido conduzidas fora de áreas protegidas. Uma vez que apenas cerca de 2% do Cerrado brasileiro, habitat principal do lobo-guará, está protegido em parques e reservas, verificar o que está acontecendo com a espécie em áreas privadas e degradadas é importante para uma avaliação precisa de sua vulnerabilidade à extinção. Aqui nós investigamos a ecologia trófica de uma população de lobos-guarás que habitam um trecho de 1.610 ha da Serra da Calçada, uma área desprotegida localizada na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte, capital do estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil. A área de estudo está localizada na zona de amortecimento (< 10 km) de duas unidades de conservação, onde áreas antropizadas (áreas urbanas e estradas) e perturbadas (campos queimados) formam um terço do total da paisagem de estudo.Os principais impactos são as atividades mineradoras, o ecoturismo não regulamentado e a proximidade de estradas. As amostras fecais (n=95) coletadas entre 2006 e 2008 revelaram que o lobo-guará usou com freqüência tanto áreas naturais como impactadas. A dieta foi composta principalmente por pequenos mamíferos (9 espécies, 16,2% dos itens e 92,6 % das fezes) e pela planta Solanum lycocarpum (12,2% dos i...

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“…The final set of protected areas was composed of 448 IPPAs and 396 SUPAs, with the total amount of 488,320 and 2,835,078 km 2 protected, respectively ( Figure 2). We created 10 km buffers around each protected area polygon to represent the legal buffer zone usually used in Brazil, which is an area where human activity is restricted (Alexandre et al 2010). We transformed the vector polygons of the protected areas and their buffer zones into a raster image with 0.5° × 0.5° degree resolution, the same resolution as the IMAGE map.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural Expansion Can Menace Brazilian Protected Areas During the 21st Century

Dobrovolski¹,

Loyola²,

Marco³

et al. 2011

Nat. Conserv.

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The main current threat to biodiversity is habitat destruction, which is motivated mostly by agricultural expansion. This threat is especially important in Brazil, a megadiverse country devoted to agribusiness. Here, we addressed the following hypotheses: i) protected areas are less covered by agriculture than areas not protected to date; ii) this pattern will hold throughout this century; iii) these effects differ between categories of protected areas. We overlaid an agricultural expansion model for the 21 st century (IMAGE) and the Brazilian protected areas to calculate the conflict between these two land uses. Agricultural extent represents 22% of Brazilian area in current time but should increase up to 40% by 2100. Although the absolute values are relatively smaller, the increase of agricultural extent will be much higher in protected areas (12 to 30%). Consequently, strategic actions are needed to reduce the damages of this agricultural expansion to biodiversity.

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How Can We Estimate Buffer Zones of Protected Areas? A Proposal Using Biological Data

Cited by 30 publications

References 19 publications

Buffer zone use by mammals in a Cerrado protected area

Buffer zone use by mammals in a Cerrado protected area

Diet and Habitat Use by Maned Wolf Outside Protected Areas in Eastern Brazil

Agricultural Expansion Can Menace Brazilian Protected Areas During the 21st Century

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