http://www.dpi.inpe.br/Miguel/Michelle/Referencias/Ecologia_da_Paisagem/BiologicalConservation_SpecialIssue_2009/02_Ribeiro_et_al_biocons_2009.pdf

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest:: how much is left and how is the remaining forest distributed? Implications for conservation

In 2010, the international community, under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, agreed on 20 biodiversity-related “Aichi Targets” to be achieved within a decade. We provide a comprehensive mid-term assessment of progress toward these global targets using 55 indicator data sets. We projected indicator trends to 2020 using an adaptive statistical framework that incorporated the specific properties of individual time series. On current trajectories, results suggest that despite accelerating policy and management responses to the biodiversity crisis, the impacts of these efforts are unlikely to be reflected in improved trends in the state of biodiversity by 2020. We highlight areas of societal endeavor requiring additional efforts to achieve the Aichi Targets, and provide a baseline against which to assess future progress.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/346/6206/241.full.pdf

A mid-term analysis of progress toward international biodiversity targets

http://www.lerf.esalq.usp.br/divulgacao/produzidos/artigos/2009bcv142n6p1242-1251.pdf

On the restoration of high diversity forests: 30 years of experience in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Ecological systems are vulnerable to irreversible change when key system properties are pushed over thresholds, resulting in the loss of resilience and the precipitation of a regime shift. Perhaps the most important of such properties in human-modified landscapes is the total amount of remnant native vegetation. In a seminal study Andren proposed the existence of a fragmentation threshold in the total amount of remnant vegetation, below which landscape-scale connectivity is eroded and local species richness and abundance become dependent on patch size. Despite the fact that species patch-area effects have been a mainstay of conservation science there has yet to be a robust empirical evaluation of this hypothesis. Here we present and test a new conceptual model describing the mechanisms and consequences of biodiversity change in fragmented landscapes, identifying the fragmentation threshold as a first step in a positive feedback mechanism that has the capacity to impair ecological resilience, and drive a regime shift in biodiversity. The model considers that local extinction risk is defined by patch size, and immigration rates by landscape vegetation cover, and that the recovery from local species losses depends upon the landscape species pool. Using a unique dataset on the distribution of non-volant small mammals across replicate landscapes in the Atlantic forest of Brazil, we found strong evidence for our model predictions - that patch-area effects are evident only at intermediate levels of total forest cover, where landscape diversity is still high and opportunities for enhancing biodiversity through local management are greatest. Furthermore, high levels of forest loss can push native biota through an extinction filter, and result in the abrupt, landscape-wide loss of forest-specialist taxa, ecological resilience and management effectiveness. The proposed model links hitherto distinct theoretical approaches within a single framework, providing a powerful tool for analysing the potential effectiveness of management interventions.

/pdf/beyond-the-fragmentation-threshold-hypothesis-regime-shifts-311o6td31j.pdf

Beyond the fragmentation threshold hypothesis: regime shifts in biodiversity across fragmented landscapes.

Although global rates of tropical deforestation remain alarmingly high, they have decreased over the period 2000–2010, and a handful of tropical developing countries have recently been through a forest transition—a shift from net deforestation to net reforestation. This review synthesizes existing knowledge on the occurrence, causes, and ecological impacts of forest transitions and examines the prospects and policy options for a global forest transition. The ecological quality of forest transitions depends on multiple factors, including the importance of natural forest regeneration versus plantations. Given an increased competition for productive land between different land uses, a global forest transition will require major technological and policy innovations to supply wood and agricultural products. In the globalization era, national strategies aimed at forest protection and sustainable use of forest resources may have unintended effects abroad owing to a displacement of land use across countries. Decisions by consumers combined with certification schemes and moratoriums have an increasing influence on the fate of forests.

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-environ-090710-143732

Global Forest Transition: Prospects for an End to Deforestation

http://www.dpi.inpe.br/Miguel/Michelle/Referencias/Ecologia_da_Paisagem/BiologicalConservation_SpecialIssue_2009/04_Metzger_et_al_biocons_2009.pdf

Time-lag in biological responses to landscape changes in a highly dynamic Atlantic forest region

http://www.geocities.ws/simonerfreitas/arquivos/Teixeiraetal2009.pdf

Modeling landscape dynamics in an Atlantic Rainforest region: Implications for conservation

A Reserva Florestal do Morro Grande (RFMG, 10.870 ha) e um dos maiores remanescentes florestais do Planalto Atlântico paulista, regiao que foi submetida a fortes pressoes de desmatamento tanto para a agricultura quanto para a exploracao da lenha e do carvao e, mais recentemente, para a expansao imobiliaria. A RFMG situa-se sobre embasamento cristalino, justo acima da Serra de Paranapiacaba, em altitudes que variam de 860 a 1075 m, numa regiao de transicao entre o clima pluvial tropical do litoral e da encosta Atlântica, com o clima estacional do interior do estado. Por conseguinte, suas florestas acabam tendo uma composicao de especies particular, com elementos das florestas ombrofila densa e mesofila semi-decidual. Apesar desta particularidade, nao houve ate recentemente praticamente nenhum estudo nas florestas do Morro Grande. Foi apenas a partir de 2000 que um grupo de pesquisadores, no contexto de um projeto tematico vinculado ao programa BIOTA/FAPESP, procurou analisar de forma sistematica a composicao de diferentes grupos taxonomicos, assim como caracterizar processos ecologicos associados com a regeneracao florestal. Este artigo tem por objetivo introduzir uma serie de nove artigos com os principais resultados dos levantamentos biologicos na RFMG, obtidos nos ultimos quatro anos, assim como fazer uma caracterizacao do historico e das condicoes abioticas na Reserva, em termos de embasamento geologico, pedologico, clima, hidrografia, e do uso e cobertura do territorio.

/pdf/uma-area-de-relevante-interesse-biologico-porem-pouco-hkc59iq8hq.pdf

Ana Maria G. Teixeira

Papers

Time-lag in biological responses to landscape changes in a highly dynamic Atlantic forest region

Modeling landscape dynamics in an Atlantic Rainforest region: Implications for conservation

Uma área de relevante interesse biológico, porém pouco conhecida: a Reserva Florestal do Morro Grande

Study of the relationship between roads, relief, land use, and natural vegetation in the Ibiuna Plateau - SP, focusing on landscape ecology