One Tree at a Time: Restoring Landscape Connectivity through Silvopastoral Systems in Transformed Amazon Landscapes
Due to the continued expansion of pastures and illicit crops, the Andes-Amazon foothills in Colombia are one of most threatened biodiversity hotspots in the country. Halting and restoring the connectivity of the landscapes transformed over the last 40 years and now dominated by extensive cattle ranc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Diversity |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/10/846 |
| _version_ | 1797473747550076928 |
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| author | Karolina Argote Beatriz Rodríguez-Sánchez Marcela Quintero Wendy Francesconi |
| author_facet | Karolina Argote Beatriz Rodríguez-Sánchez Marcela Quintero Wendy Francesconi |
| author_sort | Karolina Argote |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Due to the continued expansion of pastures and illicit crops, the Andes-Amazon foothills in Colombia are one of most threatened biodiversity hotspots in the country. Halting and restoring the connectivity of the landscapes transformed over the last 40 years and now dominated by extensive cattle ranching practices, represents a challenge. Silvopastoral systems (SPSs) have been proposed as a strategy to help conserve the biodiversity by improving landscape connectivity. However, understanding the contributions of SPSs to biodiversity conservation still requires additional research. At the farm scale (here called farmscape), we compared different landscape fragmentation and connectivity metrics under two SPS conditions (with and without). Overall, the adoption of SPSs increased the probability of connectivity (PC) index in all cases. However, the contributions of SPSs to landscape connectivity were not linear. Greater PC increases were observed in highly degraded farmscapes (ΔPc = 284) compared to farmscapes containing patches that were better connected and had larger habitat areas (ΔPc = 6). These variables could play a fundamental role in enhancing the landscape connectivity through restoration activities that seek to improve biodiversity conservation. Even if they are relatively small and scattered, in highly degraded cattle ranching systems, SPSs could significantly improve the landscape connectivity, which in turn could improve wildlife conservation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:21:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dc582dc5a9c64b3c9a222049680b8bb6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-2818 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:21:46Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diversity |
| spelling | doaj.art-dc582dc5a9c64b3c9a222049680b8bb62023-11-23T23:48:43ZengMDPI AGDiversity1424-28182022-10-01141084610.3390/d14100846One Tree at a Time: Restoring Landscape Connectivity through Silvopastoral Systems in Transformed Amazon LandscapesKarolina Argote0Beatriz Rodríguez-Sánchez1Marcela Quintero2Wendy Francesconi3Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali 763537, ColombiaAlliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali 763537, ColombiaAlliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali 763537, ColombiaAlliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali 763537, ColombiaDue to the continued expansion of pastures and illicit crops, the Andes-Amazon foothills in Colombia are one of most threatened biodiversity hotspots in the country. Halting and restoring the connectivity of the landscapes transformed over the last 40 years and now dominated by extensive cattle ranching practices, represents a challenge. Silvopastoral systems (SPSs) have been proposed as a strategy to help conserve the biodiversity by improving landscape connectivity. However, understanding the contributions of SPSs to biodiversity conservation still requires additional research. At the farm scale (here called farmscape), we compared different landscape fragmentation and connectivity metrics under two SPS conditions (with and without). Overall, the adoption of SPSs increased the probability of connectivity (PC) index in all cases. However, the contributions of SPSs to landscape connectivity were not linear. Greater PC increases were observed in highly degraded farmscapes (ΔPc = 284) compared to farmscapes containing patches that were better connected and had larger habitat areas (ΔPc = 6). These variables could play a fundamental role in enhancing the landscape connectivity through restoration activities that seek to improve biodiversity conservation. Even if they are relatively small and scattered, in highly degraded cattle ranching systems, SPSs could significantly improve the landscape connectivity, which in turn could improve wildlife conservation.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/10/846Andes-Amazon foothillsfragmentationconnectivityfragstatsconeforSPS |
| spellingShingle | Karolina Argote Beatriz Rodríguez-Sánchez Marcela Quintero Wendy Francesconi One Tree at a Time: Restoring Landscape Connectivity through Silvopastoral Systems in Transformed Amazon Landscapes Diversity Andes-Amazon foothills fragmentation connectivity fragstats conefor SPS |
| title | One Tree at a Time: Restoring Landscape Connectivity through Silvopastoral Systems in Transformed Amazon Landscapes |
| title_full | One Tree at a Time: Restoring Landscape Connectivity through Silvopastoral Systems in Transformed Amazon Landscapes |
| title_fullStr | One Tree at a Time: Restoring Landscape Connectivity through Silvopastoral Systems in Transformed Amazon Landscapes |
| title_full_unstemmed | One Tree at a Time: Restoring Landscape Connectivity through Silvopastoral Systems in Transformed Amazon Landscapes |
| title_short | One Tree at a Time: Restoring Landscape Connectivity through Silvopastoral Systems in Transformed Amazon Landscapes |
| title_sort | one tree at a time restoring landscape connectivity through silvopastoral systems in transformed amazon landscapes |
| topic | Andes-Amazon foothills fragmentation connectivity fragstats conefor SPS |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/10/846 |
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