How much Araucaria Mixed Forest remains? Novel perspectives on conservation status based on satellite imagery and policy review

The Araucaria Mixed Forest (AMF) is a highly endangered component of the Atlantic Forest, but detailed information about its conservation status across its entire historical range is lacking. In particular, there is a lack of updated information on the remaining area of AMF, how fragmented it is, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBiological conservation Vol. 296; p. 110723
Main Authors Zorek, Bruna Eliz, Biswas, Sumalika, Brum, Fernanda Thiesen, Leimgruber, Peter, Carlucci, Marcos Bergmann
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2024
Subjects
Araucaria angustifolia
Atlantic Forest
conservation status
deforestation
Forest cover change
issues and policy
keystone species
mixed forests
Protected area
Remote sensing
satellites
Vegetation mapping
Araucaria angustifolia
Forest cover change
Atlantic Forest
Protected area
Vegetation mapping
Remote sensing
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Summary:The Araucaria Mixed Forest (AMF) is a highly endangered component of the Atlantic Forest, but detailed information about its conservation status across its entire historical range is lacking. In particular, there is a lack of updated information on the remaining area of AMF, how fragmented it is, and how much is currently protected. Moreover, it is still unclear how the history of deforestation is related to the creation of policies focused on AMF conservation through time. To fill these gaps, we used Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and machine learning focusing on the prominent presence of the keystone species Araucaria angustifolia (araucaria) to map AMF. The remaining AMF extends only 4.3% (~1.2 million ha) of its original range, of which only 13.5% are inside protected areas. AMF is highly fragmented, with 99% of patches <50 ha, making it vulnerable to further declines. Our analysis suggests that policies and conservation measures were insufficient to curb the AMF decline over time. Renewed actions are urgently needed to promote 1) formal protection of the largest AMF patches; 2) strengthening of existing protected areas; 3) integration of (private-owned) Legal Reserves into conservation strategies; and 4) continued and improved range-wide monitoring of AMF via satellite remote sensing. Finally, our approach to mapping AMF based on the prominent presence of araucaria provides a novel way to frequently update forest mapping with a robust proxy.
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ISSN:0006-3207
DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110723