Geotechnology and landscape ecology applied to the selection of potential forest fragments for seed harvesting.
The Atlantic Forest biome is recognized for its biodiversity and is one of the most threatened biomes on the planet, with forest fragmentation increasing due to uncontrolled land use, land occupation, and population growth. The most serious aspect of the forest fragmentation process is the edge effect and the loss of biodiversity. In this context, the aim of this study was to evaluate the dynamics of forest fragmentation and select potential forest fragments with a higher degree of conservation for seed harvesting in the Itapemirim river basin, Espírito Santo State, Brazil. Image classification techniques, forest landscape ecology, and multi-criteria analysis were used to evaluate the evolution of forest fragmentation to develop the landscape metric indexes, and to select potential forest fragments for seed harvesting for the years 1985 and 2013. According to the results, there was a reduction of 2.55% of the occupancy of the fragments in the basin between the years 1985 and 2013. For the years 1985 and 2013, forest fragment units 2 and 3 were spatialized with a high potential for seed harvesting, representing 6.99% and 16.01% of the total fragments, respectively. The methodology used in this study has the potential to be used to support decisions for the selection of potential fragments for seed harvesting because selecting fragments in different environments by their spatial attributes provides a greater degree of conservation, contributing to the protection and conscious management of the forests. The proposed methodology can be adapted to other areas and different biomes of the world.
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Alto Universitário, s/n 29500-000, Alegre, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: alexandre.santos@pq.cnpq.br.
Alexandre Rosa Dos
ARD
Santos
Federal University of Viçosa/UFV, Av. Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n 36570-000, Viçosa, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: cribeiro@ufv.br.
Carlos
C
Antonio Alvares Soares Ribeiro
Federal Institute of Espírito Santo, Campus Alegre, BR 482, km 7, CEP 29500-000, Alegre/Rive, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: tmpeluzio@ifes.edu.br.
Telma Machado
TM
de Oliveira Peluzio
Federal Institute of Espírito Santo, Campus Alegre, BR 482, km 7, CEP 29500-000, Alegre/Rive, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: jbpeluzio@ifes.edu.br.
João Batista
JB
Esteves Peluzio
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Alto Universitário, s/n 29500-000, Alegre, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: vagnertq@gmail.com.
Vagner Tebaldi
VT
de Queiroz
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Alto Universitário, s/n 29500-000, Alegre, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: elvisgeoflorestal@gmail.com.
Elvis Ricardo
ER
Figueira Branco
Federal University of Viçosa/UFV, Av. Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n 36570-000, Viçosa, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: alelorenzon@yahoo.com.br.
Alexandre Simões
AS
Lorenzon
Federal University of Viçosa/UFV, Av. Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n 36570-000, Viçosa, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: getulio.floresta@gmail.com.
Getulio Fonseca
GF
Domingues
Federal University of Viçosa/UFV, Av. Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n 36570-000, Viçosa, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: gustavomarcatti@gmail.com.
Gustavo Eduardo
GE
Marcatti
Federal University of Viçosa/UFV, Av. Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n 36570-000, Viçosa, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: nerolemos@yahoo.com.br.
Nero Lemos Martins
NLM
de Castro
Federal University of Viçosa/UFV, Av. Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n 36570-000, Viçosa, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: thaisarib@gmail.com.
Thaisa Ribeiro
TR
Teixeira
Federal University of Viçosa/UFV, Av. Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n 36570-000, Viçosa, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: gleissym@yahoo.com.br.
Gleissy Mary Amaral Dino Alves
GMADA
Dos Santos
Federal University of Viçosa/UFV, Av. Peter Henry Rolfs, s/n 36570-000, Viçosa, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: pedromota.enf@gmail.com.
Pedro Henrique
PH
Santos Mota
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Alto Universitário, s/n 29500-000, Alegre, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: samuelfd.silva@yahoo.com.br.
Samuel
S
Ferreira da Silva
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Alto Universitário, s/n 29500-000, Alegre, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: rozivargas@gmail.com.
Rozimelia
R
Vargas
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Alto Universitário, s/n 29500-000, Alegre, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: jromario_carvalho@hotmail.com.
José Romário
JR
de Carvalho
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Alto Universitário, s/n 29500-000, Alegre, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: leandrolevate@hotmail.com.
Leandro Levate
LL
Macedo
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Alto Universitário, s/n 29500-000, Alegre, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: araujo.s.cintia@gmail.com.
Cintia
C
da Silva Araújo
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Alto Universitário, s/n 29500-000, Alegre, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: samiraluns@hotmail.com.
Samira Luns Hatum
SLH
de Almeida
D044822:Biodiversity; D001938:Brazil; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods; D016468:Forestry / Q000379:methods*; D065928:Forests; D012639:Seeds; D014197:Trees
Forestry planning; Geotechnology; Multi-criteria analysis; Spatial analysis