Dataset Information

Deforestation and Carbon Stock Loss in Brazil's Amazonian Settlements.

ABSTRACT: We estimate deforestation and the carbon stock in 2740 (82?%) of the 3325 settlements in Brazil's Legal Amazonia region. Estimates are made both using available satellite data and a carbon map for the "pre-modern" period (prior to 1970). We used data from Brazil's Project for Monitoring Deforestation in Amazonia updated through 2013 and from the Brazilian Biomes Deforestation Monitoring Project (PMDBBS) updated through 2010. To obtain the pre-modern and recent carbon stocks we performed an intersection between a carbon map and a map derived from settlement boundaries and deforestation data. Although the settlements analyzed occupied only 8?% of Legal Amazonia, our results indicate that these settlements contributed 17?% (160,410?km2) of total clearing (forest?+?non-forest) in Legal Amazonia (967,003?km2). This represents a clear-cutting of 41?% of the original vegetation in the settlements. Out of this total, 72?% (115,634?km2) was in the "Federal Settlement Project" (PA) category. Deforestation in settlements represents 20?% (2.6?Pg C) of the total carbon loss in Legal Amazonia (13.1?Pg C). The carbon stock in remaining vegetation represents 3.8?Pg C, or 6?% of the total remaining carbon stock in Legal Amazonia (58.6?Pg C) in the periods analyzed. The carbon reductions in settlements are caused both by the settlers and by external actors. Our findings suggest that agrarian reform policies contributed directly to carbon loss. Thus, the implementation of new settlements should consider potential carbon stock losses, especially if settlements are created in areas with high carbon stocks.

SUBMITTER: Yanai AM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5306089 | biostudies-other | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Deforestation and Carbon Stock Loss in Brazil's Amazonian Settlements.

Yanai Aurora Miho AM Nogueira Euler Melo EM de Alencastro Graça Paulo Maurício Lima PM Fearnside Philip Martin PM

Environmental management 20161024 3

We estimate deforestation and the carbon stock in 2740 (82 %) of the 3325 settlements in Brazil's Legal Amazonia region. Estimates are made both using available satellite data and a carbon map for the "pre-modern" period (prior to 1970). We used data from Brazil's Project for Monitoring Deforestation in Amazonia updated through 2013 and from the Brazilian Biomes Deforestation Monitoring Project (PMDBBS) updated through 2010. To obtain the pre-modern and recent carbon stocks we performed an inter ...[more]

PMID: 27778066

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Project description:Agricultural frontier expansion into the Amazon over the last four decades has created million hectares of fragmented forests. While many species undergo local extinctions within remaining forest patches, this may be compensated by native species from neighbouring open-habitat areas potentially invading these patches, particularly as forest habitats become increasingly degraded. Here, we examine the effects of habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation on small mammal assemblages in a southern Amazonian deforestation frontier, while accounting for species-specific degree of forest-dependency. We surveyed small mammals at three continuous forest sites and 19 forest patches of different sizes and degrees of isolation. We further sampled matrix habitats adjacent to forest patches, which allowed us to classify each species according to forest-dependency and generate a community-averaged forest-dependency index for each site. Based on 21,568 trap-nights, we recorded 970 small mammals representing 20 species: 12 forest-dependents, 5 matrix-tolerants and 3 open-habitat specialists. Across the gradient of forest patch size, small mammal assemblages failed to show the typical species-area relationship, but this relationship held true when either species abundance or composition was considered. Species composition was further mediated by community-averaged forest-dependency, so that smaller forest patches were occupied by a lower proportion of forest-dependent rodents and marsupials. Both species richness and abundance increased in less isolated fragments surrounded by structurally simplified matrix habitats (e.g. active or abandoned cattle pastures). While shorter distances between forest patches may favour small mammal abundances, forest area and matrix complexity dictated which species could persist within forest fragments according to their degree of forest-dependency. Small mammal local extinctions in small forest patches within Amazonian deforestation frontiers are therefore likely offset by the incursion of open-habitat species. To preclude the dominance of those species, and consequent losses of native species and associated ecosystem functions, management actions should limit or reduce areas dedicated to pasture, additionally maintaining more structurally complex matrix habitats across fragmented landscapes.

Dataset Information

Deforestation and Carbon Stock Loss in Brazil's Amazonian Settlements.

Publications

Deforestation and Carbon Stock Loss in Brazil's Amazonian Settlements.

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