Dataset Information

Landowner perceptions of the value of natural forest and natural grassland in a mosaic ecosystem in southern Brazil.

ABSTRACT: The forest-grassland mosaics of southern Brazil have been subject to many land use and policy changes over the decades. Like many grasslands around the world, the Campos grasslands are declining with few conservation efforts underway. In contrast, forests receive much attention and many incentives. It is hypothesized that perception of land cover has the potential to shape ecosystems. Here we conduct a questionnaire to further our understanding of decision-making practices that alter landscapes (Campos grassland, Araucaria forest, agriculture and plantation) and direct land policies in the region. Our analysis reveals that plantations are significantly less desirable than the other landscape types. However, plantation land use has increased by 87 % over the past few decades, as a result of industry and government incentives. The proportions of other landscape types have remained consistent over the past two decades. Restoration of native vegetation is not a priority of landowners and restoration would require a financial incentive.

SUBMITTER: Henderson KA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6106652 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Landowner perceptions of the value of natural forest and natural grassland in a mosaic ecosystem in southern Brazil.

Henderson Kirsten A KA Reis Mateus M Blanco Carolina C CC Pillar Valério D VD Printes Rodrigo C RC Bauch Chris T CT Anand Madhur M

Sustainability science 20150707 2

The forest-grassland mosaics of southern Brazil have been subject to many land use and policy changes over the decades. Like many grasslands around the world, the <i>Campos</i> grasslands are declining with few conservation efforts underway. In contrast, forests receive much attention and many incentives. It is hypothesized that perception of land cover has the potential to shape ecosystems. Here we conduct a questionnaire to further our understanding of decision-making practices that alter land ...[more]

PMID: 30174732

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Project description:Grassland environments face a number of threats including land use change, changing climate and encroachment of woody plants. In the Southern Plains of the United States, woody plant encroachment threatens traditional agricultural grazing economies in addition to grassland dependent wildlife species. Numerous studies have examined the physical drivers of conversion from grassland to woodland but social drivers may be equally important to understanding the causes of and prescriptions for environmental degradation. In this paper, we report the results of a survey of landowners in the Southern Plains of Texas and Oklahoma in which we asked participants to estimate the current amount of woody plant cover on their land, their preferred amount of woody plant cover and about their perspectives regarding the use of prescribed fire for managing woody plants. Prescribed fire is ecologically and economically one of the most effective tools for maintaining grasslands but many landowners do not use this tool due to lack of knowledge, lack of resources and concerns over safety and legal liability. We found that while most of our respondents did express a desire for less woody plant cover on their land, woody plant preference did not affect landowner's use of prescribed fire. However, belonging to a prescribed burn association and owning larger properties were correlated with increased use of prescribed fire. Woody plant cover preference was significantly influenced by landownership motivations, with hunters and other recreational motivated landowners preferring more trees and ranchers preferring fewer. This is important because throughout most of our study area, there has been a steady shift from agricultural production to amenity or recreational landownership, a trend that may undermine efforts to restore or maintain open grasslands. Future outreach efforts to promote prescribed fire to maintain grasslands should more actively support prescribed burn associations, which is an effective vehicle for increasing prescribed fire use by private landowners.

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Dataset Information

Landowner perceptions of the value of natural forest and natural grassland in a mosaic ecosystem in southern Brazil.

Publications

Landowner perceptions of the value of natural forest and natural grassland in a mosaic ecosystem in southern Brazil.

Similar Datasets

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