IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Angelieri, C.C.S. | |
| Large mammals' conservation and land use planning in SÆo Paulo State/Brazil | |
| 2015 Full Book | |
The overall objective of this thesis is to integrate the conservation of large mammals to land use planning process in SÆo Paulo State, Brazil. For this, the specific objectives are: (1) to systematize, to spatialize and to analyze the occurrence of large mammals, establishing correlations between large mammals distribution and land use patterns, climatic and topographic variables; (2) to establish priority areas for conservation of large mammals in SÆo Paulo State; and (3) to characterize the land use and conservation patterns in SÆo Paulo's municipalities (emphasis in Brotas-SP). The design of this study aimed to apply Species Distribution Models tools (species studied: _Chrysocyon brachyurus_, _Leopardus pardalis_ and _Puma concolor_) in an approach of Systematic Conservation Planning. For this, MAXENT algorithm was applied for species distribution modelling and Zonation algorithm was applied for spatial prioritization analysis and conservation priority areas identification. All models were significant (p = 0.05) considering the minimum training presence threshold showing high performance (AUC = 0.8). Despite the plasticity of the species, the variable percentage of native vegetation was one of the top three most important for all models. The distribution of the species covers both natural and disturbed landscapes, but high environmental suitability areas (up to 0.5) concentrate in regions with native vegetation fragments. However the most part of these areas are not protected by law. Spatial prioritization results showed high priorities for carnivores concentrate in the central region of SÆo Paulo, where there are conflicts there are both high demand for carnivore conservation and high demand for human development. Conservation strategies need to be developed case by case because both priorities for conservation and priorities for development were showed very different between the municipalities. For example, Brotas is strategic for carnivore's conservation, having high percentage of core areas in its territory and high ecotourism potential. However the percent of native vegetation cover is low. Therefore, it is recommended protected areas expansion and native vegetation restoration to increase the protection of large carnivores in Brotas. This study highlights the importance of a landscape planning approach to improve the conservation outlook for large mammals, including not only the establishment and management of protected areas, but also native habitat conservation and management on private lands. Importantly, the results may inform environmental policies and land use planning in SÆo Paulo State, Brazil (e.g. Action Plan for Conservation of Endangered Species; Zoning; Reviews of Environmental Impacts), and it serves as a useful model to guide similar process for other large-carnivore species world-wide. |
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