Estimating Fragmentation and Connectivity Patterns of the Temperate Forest in an Avocado-Dominated Landscape to Propose Conservation Strategies
Por:
Latorre-Cardenas, Maria Camila, Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Antonio, Godinez-Gomez, Oscar, Arima, Eugenio Y., Young, Kenneth R., Denvir, Audrey, Garcia-Oliva, Felipe, Ghilardi, Adrian
Publicada:
1 mar 2023
Resumen:
The rapid expansion of avocado cultivation in Michoacan, Mexico, is one
of the drivers of deforestation. We assessed the degree of fragmentation
and functional connectivity of the remaining temperate forest within the
Avocado Belt and prioritized patches that contribute the most to
connectivity using a network-based approach and modelling different seed
and pollen dispersal scenarios, including two types of patch attributes
(size and degree of conservation). As landscape transformation in the
region is rapid and ongoing, we updated the land-use and land-cover maps
through a supervised classification of Sentinel-2 imagery, improving the
reliability of our analyses. Temperate forest is highly fragmented
within the region: most patches are small (<30 ha), have a reduced
core-area (28%), and irregular shapes. The degree of connectivity is
very low (0.06), dropping to 0.019 when the degree of conservation of
patches was considered. The top 100 ranked patches of forest that
support the connectivity of seeds and pollen have different
characteristics (i.e., size and topology) that may be considered for
implementing conservation and management strategies. Seed dispersal
seems to be more threatened by fragmentation than pollen dispersal, and
patches that are important for maintaining seed connectivity are
embedded in the denser zone of avocado orchards.
Filiaciones:
Latorre-Cardenas, Maria Camila:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, 58190, Mexico
Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Antonio:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, 58190, Mexico
Godinez-Gomez, Oscar:
Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO), Ciudad de México, 14010, Mexico
Arima, Eugenio Y.:
Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, United States
Young, Kenneth R.:
Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, United States
Denvir, Audrey:
Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, United States
Garcia-Oliva, Felipe:
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, 58190, Mexico
Ghilardi, Adrian:
Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, 58190, Mexico
gold, All Open Access; Gold
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