Land use and cover change scenarios in the Mesoamerican  Biological Corridor-Chiapas, México

Background. Human impact over natural ecosystems located in Southern Mexico is increasingly evident. We generated a spatially explicit land use and cover change (LUCC) model to assess current and potential impact of human activities and to identify the influence of variables such as: distance to paved and unpaved roads, human settlements, rivers, slope and protected areas.Study site. Mesoamerican Biological Corridor located in the state of Chiapas (MBC-Ch), Mexico.Methods. We calibrated a model for the period 1993-2002 and ran a simulation for 2007 which we compared against the real 2007 land use and cover map to evaluate model’s performance. We then projected LUCC to 2030 under three different scenarios: 1) Agriculture and Livestock (AGL), 2) Business As Usual (BAU) and, 3) Conservation (CON).Results. Proximity to roads and settlements increased deforestation probabilities whereas the presence of natural protected areas had the opposite effect. The AGL scenario predicted a reduction of 43 % and 41 % in the extent of closed tropical and temperate forests, respectively. In comparison, the BAU scenario predicted a reduction of 19.5 % in the area covered by closed tropical forest and of 30.1 % in temperate forests. The extent of land destined to farming and forestry increased by 22 % and 15 % in the AGL and BAU scenarios, respectively. In contrast, the CON scenario predicted slight changes in the landscape.Conclusions. Our simulations indicate that it is highly probable to see a marked decay in the extent (and likely integrity) of natural habitats in the MBC-Ch region if a comprehensive series of management actions are not urgently implemented.

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Proposal of a System for Assessment of the Sustainability of Municipalities (Sasmu) Included in the Spanish Network of National Parks and Their Surroundings

Geosciences ◽

10.3390/geosciences10080298 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 298 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Javier Martínez-Vega ◽

David Rodríguez-Rodríguez ◽

Francisco M. Fernández-Latorre ◽

Paloma Ibarra ◽

Maite Echeverría ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Environmental Economic ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

National Parks ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Efficient Tool ◽

Target Value ◽

Network Scale

It is usually considered that Protected Areas (PAs) are an efficient tool for policies to conserve biodiversity. However, there is evidence that some pressures and threats arise from processes taking place both inside them and in their surroundings territories—habitat loss, changes in land use, fragmentation of natural ecosystems. In this paper, we aim to test the hypothesis that municipalities located in the Socioeconomic Influence Zones (SIZs) of the fifteen National Parks (NPs) in Spain are more sustainable than those in their surroundings or, conversely, that the municipalities of their surroundings are more unsustainable. To measure their sustainability, we propose a system for assessment using fifteen indicators selected by experts. The methodology is based on the normalization of the data of each indicator, comparing them with a desirable target value defined in terms of sector policies and strategies. We then aggregate the indicators for each group in three indices that cover the classic dimensions of sustainability—environmental, economic and social. On a network scale, the results show that municipalities inside the SIZs are 1.594 points more sustainable environmentally, 0.108 economically and 0.068 socially than those of their surroundings. A system for assessment of the sustainability of municipalities (SASMU) may be a useful tool for NP managers, and for local and regional administrations, when setting priorities for policies, projects and compensation for regulatory restrictions related to NPs.

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Croton guatemalensis (Euphorbiaceae) phenology at the Zoque Tropical Forest Biological Corridor

Madera y Bosques ◽

10.21829/myb.2020.2621969 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Dulce María Pozo-Gómez ◽

Carolina Orantes-García ◽

Tamara Mila Rioja-Paradela ◽

Rubén Antonio Moreno-Moreno ◽

Arturo Carrillo-Reyes

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forest ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Environmental Variables ◽

Reproductive Phenology ◽

Southern Mexico ◽

Natural Protected Areas ◽

Model Soil ◽

Biological Corridor ◽

Multipurpose Species ◽

Significant Difference

Croton guatemalensis is a threatened and multipurpose species in communities of southeastern Mexico and Central America. For the first time, its reproductive phenology and its relationship with environmental variables present in four different natural protected areas of the Zoque Tropical Forest Biological Corridor was determined. Throughout a year the flowering and fructification of the species was monitored, the local environmental variables were recorded and fruits and seeds were collected to determine, under a random design, the germination of the seeds and the growth of seedlings in the laboratory and in nursery respectively. In all cases, flowering was presented from July to April, while fructification occurred from March to September, coinciding with the months where the rains diminish considerably. In terms of seed germination, it presented a statistically significant difference between seeds from the four protected areas. The most contrasting results were presented between La Pera and Area Villa de Allende (98% ± 3.84% and 6% ± 3.84% respectively). According to the generalized linear model, soil porosity was the only variable that influenced the germination of the species (the higher the porosity, the higher the percentage of final germination, t = 2.237, P = 0.0503). Because this is the first study on the ecophysiology of C. guatemalensis in southern Mexico, the importance of it becomes relevant when providing fundamental reproductive information for the generation of strategies for conservation, restoration and forest management of the species.

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Management for Biodiversity: Human and Landscape Effects on Dry Environments

Biodiversity in Drylands ◽

10.1093/oso/9780195139853.003.0024 ◽

2005 ◽

Author(s):

Avi Perevolotsky ◽

Moshe Shachak

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Ecosystem Services ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

External Input ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Land Use Patterns ◽

Management Actions ◽

Ecological Criteria ◽

Disturbance Management ◽

Third Dimension

Biodiversity is one of the principal pillars of natural ecosystems. In fact, biodiversity can be interpreted as a manifestation of the various biotic and abiotic components of the ecological systems and their mutual interactions or as the totality or variation (chapter 19). Biodiversity applies at different realms of ecological criteria: organism (genetic/phenological), species, habitat, and landscape (Loidi 1999, Noss 1990). Historically, it was the specific assemblage of organisms—the species diversity—that attracted the attention of scientists. Later, the effect of landscape structure on biological diversity, through habitat and niche properties, became an additional focus of biodiversity research (Malanson and Cramer 1999). The impact of different disturbances on the ecosystem and community structure has also become part of the study of landscape–biodiversity interrelationships (Moloney and Levin 1996; Trabaud and Galtie 1996). In this chapter we present a third dimension that affects biodiversity: human intervention through management and land-use patterns. One may consider this dimension as another source of disturbance, but we believe that such an approach is narrow. In contrast to disturbance, management is intentional, directional, goal-oriented, and, in some cases, scientifically or professionally guided. Human societies have modified the biodiversity of their environments since prehistoric time. Traditional land use that has evolved from ancient practice usually produces highly diverse landscapes based on knowledge of old systems of land exploitation (Loidi 1999). In Scotland, for example, biodiversity was enhanced by the interactions between farmers and the woodlands surrounding the agricultural fields (Tipping et al. 1999). Modern afforestation schemes fail to create diverse woodlands similar to the ancient ones. Maintenance of biodiversity through active management has recently become an important challenge for modern conservation (Monkkonen 1999). In this chapter, we use a conceptual model of human–biodiversity relationships and apply it to water-limited systems. The model describes how ecosystem services provided to traditional and modern societies are enhanced by management actions. The ecosystem services discussed in this chapter are water accumulation, food production (mainly through primary production), and recreation potential. The essence of the model is that without external input of water, ecosystem services are controlled by relationship between landscape mosaic, ecosystem processes, and organisms.

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A preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor for protecting potential Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii) habitat in southern Mexico

Integrative Zoology ◽

10.1111/1749-4877.12005 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 35-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Eduardo MENDOZA ◽

Trevon L. FULLER ◽

Henri A. THOMASSEN ◽

Wolfgang BUERMANN ◽

Diana RAMÍREZ-MEJÍA ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Preliminary Assessment ◽

Southern Mexico ◽

Biological Corridor ◽

Mesoamerican Biological Corridor

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Pathways of human development threaten biomes’ protection and their remaining natural vegetation

10.1101/776443 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Isabel M.D. Rosa ◽

Carlos A. Guerra

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Boreal Forests ◽

Central Africa ◽

Mediterranean Forests ◽

Ecological Value ◽

Management Actions ◽

Projected Change ◽

Wide Range ◽

Average Proportion

AbstractProtected areas have been one of the most commonly applied conservation tools to prevent ecosystem degradation. International conservation targets have been created to incentivize widespread expansion of protected area networks, but this call might clash with expected future land use change. Here we investigated how future land use trajectories (2015-2090), representing a wide range of plausible future scenarios would impact the remaining areas of primary vegetation under different protection levels across the world’s biomes. We then highlight areas under greater risk of conflict between conservation (highly protected) and land use expansion (high projected change), and areas where these two can better co-exist (lower protection with high projected change and/or high protection with low projected change).While the most positive pathway of development led to the least loss of primary vegetation globally, this was not observed in all biomes. Further, we found no significant correlation between existing extent of protection and average proportion of vegetation loss. Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands & Scrub had the largest projected loss occurring in the highest protected areas. Tropical Forests in Central Africa and the Boreal Forests of North Euro-Asia and Canada emerge as the areas where most projected change occurs, and existing protection is still low. Areas in India and Southeast Asia emerge as potential areas for intervention as they have significant projected loss of primary vegetation, and considerably low protection.Our results can help inform policy and decision-makers to prevent such conflicts and support the development of management actions. These policy and management actions should target conservation in areas under expected great pressure of change with high ecological value (e.g., composed mainly by primary vegetation), but still not protected. This study also opens the discussion to the future of current protected areas and to the potential to expand the existing network of protected areas.

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PROTECTED AREAS IN BRAZIL: EVOLUTION, LAND USE AND COVER, AND IMPACT ON EMISSIONS INVENTORY

FLORESTA ◽

10.5380/rf.v51i1.67761 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 174

Author(s):

Roberta Zecchini Cantinho ◽

Jimmy Alexander Hernandez Linares ◽

José Luiz Vieira da Cruz Vieira ◽

Mauro Lucio Rodrigues de Assis ◽

Mercedes Maria Da Cunha Bustamante

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Sustainable Use ◽

Environmental Conservation ◽

Co2 Removal ◽

Emissions Inventory ◽

The Third ◽

Indigenous Lands ◽

Full Protection ◽

Land Use And Cover

Faced with population growth and intensification of the use of natural resources, Protected Areas (PA) and Indigenous Lands (IL) play a fundamental role in environmental conservation. The carbon increment of preserved vegetation within these areas is accounted for as CO2 removal in the Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) sector of the National Emissions Inventory. A topological evaluation of overlaps was made of the databases of PAs (full protection and sustainable use) and ILs, showing that they represent 6% of the protected areas. Of the total of PAs and ILs areas, 43% were established by 1994, 26% by 2002, 26% by 2010, and 4% between 2011 and 2016. This evaluation showed that 30% of the territory is within PAs and ILs. In terms of area, 84% is distributed in the Amazon, 9% in the Cerrado, 4% in the Atlantic Forest, 3% in the Caatinga, 0,2% in the Pantanal, and 0,3% in the Pampa. In assessing the use and cover of 2010 of the PAs and ILs created up to this year, it was possible to notice that 68% of the areas within the PAs have preserved vegetation, whereas in ILs, this percentage increases to 89%. Under the Third Emissions Inventory, the removal of vegetation protected in PAs and ILs decreased by 16% of the national net emissions of the LULUCF sector between 2002 and 2010, showing the importance of preserving forests and grasslands.

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Spatial-Temporal Dynamics of Vegetation Cover in a Diversity Hotspot for the Conservation of Brazilian Cerrado

Journal of Agricultural Science ◽

10.5539/jas.v11n15p200 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (15) ◽

pp. 200 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nathan C. Fonsêca ◽

Giselle L. Moreira ◽

José Nailson B. Santos ◽

Marília Isabelle O. da Silva ◽

Máida Cynthia D. de Lima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Water Bodies ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Conservation Area ◽

Essential Information ◽

Remnant Vegetation ◽

Fast Increase ◽

Land Use And Cover ◽

Dynamics Of Vegetation

This work investigates the spatial-temporal dynamics of land use and vegetation covers in a conservation area of Cerrado, in the county of Currais, Piauí, in which the economy depends on large agricultural projects. We used maps of a 32-year time series (1985 to 2017) of land use and cover provided by the Brazilian Annual Land Use and Land Cover Mapping Project (MapBiomas). We assessed six classes of land uses and vegetation covers: forest, savanna, grassland, agriculture/pasture, non-vegetated area, and water bodies. There was a fast increase in pressure on natural ecosystems from 1985 and 2017, primarily from 2000. The land use for agriculture and pasture increased from 0.26% (726.93 ha) in 2000 to 16% (50,772.63 ha) in 2017. During this period, the native vegetation decreased 15.90%, with savannas suffering the largest loss in hectares of vegetation (41,663.73 ha), followed by the forests (9,837.35 ha). The grassland cover, non-vegetated area, and water bodies remained unchanged. These results provide essential information for decision making and can be used to guide public policies for the conservation, monitoring, and sustainable management of remnant vegetation areas.

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Central American Environmental Defense Program in the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor

10.21236/ada424041 ◽

2002 ◽

Author(s):

Bernie Griffard ◽

Art Bradshaw ◽

Kent H. Butts

Keyword(s):

Central American ◽

Biological Corridor ◽

Mesoamerican Biological Corridor

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Agroforestry Systems of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley: Land Use for Biocultural Diversity Conservation

Land ◽

10.3390/land8020024 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 24

Author(s):

Mariana Vallejo ◽

M. Isabel Ramírez ◽

Alejandro Reyes-González ◽

Jairo López-Sánchez ◽

Alejandro Casas

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Agroforestry Systems ◽

World Heritage Site ◽

Biocultural Diversity ◽

Semiarid Region ◽

Agricultural Land Use ◽

Visual Interpretation ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Human Settlements

The Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, Mexico, is the semiarid region with the richest biodiversity of North America and was recently recognized as a UNESCO's World Heritage site. Original agricultural practices remain to this day in agroforestry systems (AFS), which are expressions of high biocultural diversity. However, local people and researchers perceive a progressive decline both in natural ecosystems and AFS. To assess changes in location and extent of agricultural land use, we carried out a visual interpretation of very-high resolution imagery and field work, through which we identified AFS and conventional agricultural systems (CAS) from 1995 to 2003 and 2012. We analyzed five communities, representative of three main ecological and agricultural zones of the region. We assessed agricultural land use changes in relation to conspicuous landscape features (relief, rivers, roads, and human settlements). We found that natural ecosystems cover more than 85% of the territory in each community, and AFS represent 51% of all agricultural land. Establishment and permanence of agricultural lands were strongly influenced by gentle slopes and the existence of roads. Contrary to what we expected, we recorded agricultural areas being abandoned, thus favoring the regeneration of natural ecosystems, as well as a 9% increase of AFS over CAS. Agriculture is concentrated near human settlements. Most of the studied territories are meant to preserve natural ecosystems, and traditional AFS practices are being recovered for biocultural conservation.

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Spatial distribution of the Barbary Partridge (Alectoris barbara) in Sardinia explained by land use and climate

European Journal of Wildlife Research ◽

10.1007/s10344-021-01519-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 67 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Gianpasquale Chiatante ◽

Marta Giordano ◽

Anna Vidus Rosin ◽

Oreste Sacchi ◽

Alberto Meriggi

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Conservation Status ◽

Distance Sampling ◽

Strong Relationship ◽

European Population ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Brood Rearing ◽

Management Actions ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Study Sites

AbstractMore than half of the European population of the Barbary Partridge is in Sardinia; nonetheless, the researches concerning this species are very scarce, and its conservation status is not defined because of a deficiency of data. This research aimed to analyse the habitat selection and the factors affecting the abundance and the density of the Barbary Partridge in Sardinia. We used the data collected over 8 years (between 2004 and 2013) by spring call counts in 67 study sites spread on the whole island. We used GLMM to define the relationships between the environment (topography, land use, climate) both the occurrence and the abundance of the species. Moreover, we estimated population densities by distance sampling. The Barbary Partridge occurred in areas at low altitude with garrigue and pastures, avoiding woodlands and sparsely vegetated areas. We found a strong relationship between the occurrence probability and the climate, in particular, a positive relation with temperature and a negative effect of precipitation, especially in April–May, during brood rearing. Furthermore, dry crops positively affected the abundance of the species. We estimated a density of 14.1 partridges per km2, similar to other known estimates. Our findings are important both because they increase the knowledge concerning this species, which is considered data deficient in Italy, and because they are useful to plan management actions aimed to maintain viable populations if necessary.

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