scholarly journals CONSERVAÇÃO DE PEIXES DE RIACHO: PLANEJAMENTO E POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (02) ◽  
pp. 546-564
Author(s):  
Renata Guimarães Frederico ◽  
◽  
Vanessa Cristine e Souza Reis ◽  
Carla Natacha Marcolino Polaz ◽  
◽  
...  

Conservation biology has historically been based on principles to protect terrestrial ecosystems, with marine and freshwater ecosystems left behind. As a result, often, protected areas are defined with bases in forest cover and terrestrial characteristics overseeing important components of connectivity of riverine landscapes, such as the connectivity between rivers, lakes, and streams. It is important to emphasize that forest protection is extremely important, but that alone cannot safeguard the protection of freshwater ecosystems. Therefore, our discussion should lead, not to the disregard of terrestrial efforts but to the complementation of existing efforts for forest protection with the addition of areas that can also protect freshwater ecosystems. Fluvial ecosystems are hierarchical and nested systems, with multidimensional connectivity including longitudinal (upstream-downstream), lateral (floodplains and lakes), temporal (seasons) and vertical (groundwaters) connections. Systematic Conservation Planning (SCP) is the most well accepted and used method for designing conservation plans based on cost-effective scenarios that include ecological and socio-economic values resulting in thematic maps of priority areas for conservation. Recently, methods to consider the connectivity of freshwater ecosystems were incorporated into spatial prioritization tools. Maps produced using spatial prioritization tools can help decision making on species management and conservation actions, such as plans for species’ impact reduction (PRIM) and action plans for threatened species (PAN). PRIM and PAN use information about species ecology to focus conservation actions onto target species. These conservation action plans must be viable not only ecologically but also economically. In this context, using SCP to guide designs of PRIM and PAN can help stakeholders to achieve better conservation actions in Brazil. Thus, the SCP can improve the conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems, through the integration of science, society and stakeholder.

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e8060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janeth Lessmann ◽  
Maria J. Troya ◽  
Alexander S. Flecker ◽  
W. Chris Funk ◽  
Juan M. Guayasamin ◽  
...  

Anthropogenic threat maps are commonly used as a surrogate for the ecological integrity of rivers in freshwater conservation, but a clearer understanding of their relationships is required to develop proper management plans at large scales. Here, we developed and validated empirical models that link the ecological integrity of rivers to threat maps in a large, heterogeneous and biodiverse Andean–Amazon watershed. Through fieldwork, we recorded data on aquatic invertebrate community composition, habitat quality, and physical-chemical parameters to calculate the ecological integrity of 140 streams/rivers across the basin. Simultaneously, we generated maps that describe the location, extent, and magnitude of impact of nine anthropogenic threats to freshwater systems in the basin. Through seven-fold cross-validation procedure, we found that regression models based on anthropogenic threats alone have limited power for predicting the ecological integrity of rivers. However, the prediction accuracy improved when environmental predictors (slope and elevation) were included, and more so when the predictions were carried out at a coarser scale, such as microbasins. Moreover, anthropogenic threats that amplify the incidence of other pressures (roads, human settlements and oil activities) are the most relevant predictors of ecological integrity. We concluded that threat maps can offer an overall picture of the ecological integrity pattern of the basin, becoming a useful tool for broad-scale conservation planning for freshwater ecosystems. While it is always advisable to have finer scale in situ measurements of ecological integrity, our study shows that threat maps provide fast and cost-effective results, which so often are needed for pressing management and conservation actions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas White ◽  
Silviu Octavian Petrovan ◽  
Hollie Booth ◽  
Roberto J Correa ◽  
Yasmine Gatt ◽  
...  

The need for conservation action to be cost-effective is widely accepted and this has prompted an increased interest and effort to assess effectiveness. Assessing financial costs of conservation is equally important, yet its measurement and assessment are repeatedly identified as lacking. The healthcare sector however, has made substantial progress in identifying and including costs in decision-making. Here, we consider what conservation can learn from this experience. We present a three-step framework for identifying and recording the relevant financial costs and benefits of conservation interventions where the user 1) describes the costing context, 2) determines which types of cost and benefit to include and 3) obtains values for these costs and benefits alongside metadata necessary for others to interpret the data. This framework is designed to help estimate economic costs, but can also be used flexibly to record direct costs of interventions (i.e. accounting costs), calculate financial benefits, and calculate cost effectiveness. Although recording cost data can be deceptively complex, this framework facilitates the improved recording of financial costs and benefits, and shows how this could enhance the assessment of cost-effectiveness across a broad range of conservation contexts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 3593
Author(s):  
Biagio Esposito ◽  
Francesco Riminucci ◽  
Stefano Di Marco ◽  
Elisa Giorgia Metruccio ◽  
Fabio Osti ◽  
...  

The worldwide increase in the number and use of agrochemicals impacts nearby soil and freshwater ecosystems. Beyond the excess in applications and dosages, the inadequate management of remnants and the rinsing water of containers and application equipment worsen this problem, creating point sources of pollution. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as photocatalytic and photo-oxidation processes have been successfully applied in degrading organic pollutants. We developed a simple prototype to be used at farms for quickly degrading pesticides in water solutions by exploiting a UV–H2O2-mediated AOP. As representative compounds, we selected the insecticide imidacloprid, the herbicide terbuthylazine, and the fungicide azoxystrobin, all in their commercial formulation. The device efficiency was investigated through the disappearance of the parent molecule and the degree of mineralization. The toxicity of the pesticide solutions, before and during the treatment, was assessed by Vibrio fischeri and Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata inhibition assays. The results obtained have demonstrated a cost-effective, viable alternative for detoxifying the pesticide solutions before their disposal into the environment, even though the compounds, or their photoproducts, showed different sensitivities to physicochemical degradation. The bioassays revealed changes in the inhibitory effects on the organisms in agreement with the analytical data.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Ettinger ◽  
E. R. Buhle ◽  
B. E. Feist ◽  
E. Howe ◽  
J. A. Spromberg ◽  
...  

AbstractUrbanization-driven landscape changes are harmful to many species. Negative effects can be mitigated through habitat preservation and restoration, but it is often difficult to prioritize these conservation actions. This is due, in part, to the scarcity of species response data, which limit the predictive accuracy of modeling to estimate critical thresholds for biological decline and recovery. To address these challenges, we quantify effort required for restoration, in combination with a clear conservation objective and associated metric (e.g., habitat for focal organisms). We develop and apply this framework to coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), a highly migratory and culturally iconic species in western North America that is particularly sensitive to urbanization. We examine how uncertainty in biological parameters may alter locations prioritized for conservation action and compare this to the effect of shifting to a different conservation metric (e.g., a different focal salmon species). Our approach prioritized suburban areas (those with intermediate urbanization effects) for preservation and restoration action to benefit coho. We found that prioritization was most sensitive to the selected metric, rather than the level of uncertainty or critical threshold values. Our analyses highlight the importance of identifying metrics that are well-aligned with intended outcomes.


2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 682-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Nelson

Manually designing harvest units for strategic planning is expensive. This paper compares blocking methods based on forest-cover polygons and manually designed harvest units. Routines are used to split and aggregate polygons into three block size distributions: (i) uniform 40-ha blocks; (ii) uniform 120-ha blocks; and (iii) by area, one-third 20 ha, one-third 60 ha, and one-third 150 ha. Three harvest rules that influence adjacency and the cutting of polygons within a block are applied to each block size distribution to compare forecasts generated by forest-cover and operational blocks. Generally, volume flows from the two methods deviate by less than 5%, and the highest deviations usually occur during the first 20 years. Projected landscape structure, as measured by interior forest area, is also similar under the two blocking methods. The results indicate that forest-cover data provide a reasonable alternative to manual blocking in tactical and strategic plans. This is significant because it removes an important barrier to timely and cost-effective planning, especially for large geographic problems where manual blocking is not an option.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guopeng Ren ◽  
Stephen S. Young ◽  
Lin Wang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Yongcheng Long ◽  
...  

There is profound interest in knowing the degree to which China’s institutions are capable of protecting its natural forests and biodiversity in the face of economic and political change. China’s two most important forest protection policies are its National Forest Protection Program (NFPP) and its National-level Nature Reserves (NNRs). The NFPP was implemented in 17 provinces starting in the year 2000 in response to deforestation-caused flooding. We used MODIS data (MOD13Q1) to estimate forest cover and forest loss across mainland China, and we report that 1.765 million km2or 18.7% of mainland China was covered in forest (12.3%, canopy cover > 70%) and woodland (6.4%, 40% ≤ canopy cover < 70%) in 2000. By 2010, a total of 480,203 km2of forest+woodland was lost, amounting to an annual deforestation rate of 2.7%. The forest-only loss was 127,473 km2, or 1.05% annually. The three most rapidly deforested provinces were outside NFPP jurisdiction, in the southeast. Within the NFPP provinces, the annual forest+woodland loss rate was 2.26%, and the forest-only rate was 0.62%. Because these loss rates are likely overestimates, China appears to have achieved, and even exceeded, its NFPP target of reducing deforestation to 1.1% annually in the target provinces. We also assemble the first-ever polygon dataset for China’s forested NNRs (n=237), which covered 74,030 km2in 2000. Conventional unmatched and covariate-matching analyses both find that about two-thirds of China’s NNRs exhibit effectiveness in protecting forest cover and that within-NNR deforestation rates are higher in provinces that have higher overall deforestation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 212-235
Author(s):  
Fabiana da Silva Pereira ◽  
Ima Célia Guimarães Vieira

The objective of this paper was to evaluate the degree of anthropic transformation of a river basin in the Amazon region. We used the digital data of the TerraClass Project to calculate the Anthropic Transformation Index - ATI. In order to verify spatial and temporal changes along a decade in the Gurupi river basin, we used the database of the years 2004 and 2014. The results showed an increase of anthropic changes in the basin over a decade, as a result of forest cover conversion into agricultural and pastures areas. Although the Gurupi river basin remains at a regular level of degradation after a decade, the intensification of land use and land cover change is a threat to the few rainforest remnants of the river basin, which can lead the region to the next level of degradation, if effective forest protection, conservation and restoration actions are not implemented in the region.  


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinela-Adriana Chețan ◽  
Andrei Dornik

&lt;p&gt;Natura 2000 network, the world's largest network of protected areas, is considered a success for habitat and biodiversity protection, in the last decades. Our objective is to develop an algorithm for satellite data temporal analysis of protected areas, and to apply subsequently this algorithm for analysis of all Natura 2000 sites in Europe. We have developed an algorithm for satellite data temporal analysis of protected areas using JavaScript in Google Earth Engine, which is a web interface for the massive analysis of geospatial data, providing access to huge amount of data and facilitating development of complex workflows. This work focused on analysis of Global Forest Change dataset&amp;#160;representing forest change, at 30 meters resolution, globally, between 2000 and 2018. Our results show that at least regarding forest protection, the network is not very successful, the 25350 sites losing 35246.8 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; of forest cover between 2000 and 2018, gaining only 9862.1 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;. All 28 countries recorded a negative forest net change, with a mean value of -906.6 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, the largest forest area change recording Spain (-5106.4 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 1631 sites), Poland (-4529 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 962 sites), Portugal (-2781.9 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 120 sites), Romania (-1601.4 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 569 sites), Germany (-1365.7 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 5049 sites) and France (-1270.9 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 1520 sites). Among countries with the lowest values in net forest change is Ireland (-17.4 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 447 sites), Estonia (-104.1 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 518 sites), Netherlands (-132.3 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 152 sites), Finland (-268.6 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 1722 sites) and Sweden (-341.6 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; in 3786 sites).&lt;/p&gt;


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Poratelli ◽  
Cristopher D'Amboise ◽  
Michael Neuhauser ◽  
Cristian Accastello ◽  
Filippo Brun

&lt;p&gt;The last decades have seen a higher attention payed to natural hazards due to the increasing losses and economic damages caused by them. Researchers, practitioners and local administrations studied the best way to mitigate and prevent them, using both structural and non-structural&amp;#160; defense techniques. Even though there are now several possible solutions to be used, it is not always easy for decision makers to choose the best option from both a technical and an economical point of view.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With the FAT tool we aimed at providing a useful mean for practitioners to help them choose between various protection options. The FAT tool is an online platform where the user, inserting a limited number of input data (e.g. slope profile, slope width, forest cover), is provided with an easily understandable output, that being a comparison of the costs and the benefits generated by different protection solutions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The tool is built on an empirical, profile-based hazard model and deals with avalanches, rockfall and shallow landslides. The outputs of the hazard models are used to dimension and calculate the costs and benefits of several protection options and the damages avoided by those. The possible solutions considered are: ecosystem based solutions (e.g. protection forest), technical measures (e.g. snow fences, catching dams, rockfall nets), avoidance measures (e.g. road closure, building evacuation) and a combination of these. The most innovative part of the tool is the importance given to the role of the forest, and generally to the Eco-DRR solutions, on the hazard track, where a forest protection effect indicator is calculated to assess the effectiveness of a stand in mitigating the risk on the chosen profile. The outputs of the FAT tool, consisting in the index and the economic values of different alternative protection measures, can help the user identify the areas where the forests have the highest mitigation effect and choose where to allocate forest management resources.&lt;/p&gt;


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