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Fires dynamics in the Pantanal: Impacts of anthropogenic activities and climate change
Abstract
Anthropogenic activities responsible for modifying climatic regimes and land use and land cover (LULC) have been altering fire behavior even in regions with natural occurrences, such as the Pantanal. This biome was highlighted in 2020 due to the record number of fire foci and burned areas registered. Thus, this study aimed to understand how changes in LULC and climate affect the spatial, temporal and magnitude dynamics of fire foci. The Earth Trends Modeler (ETM) was used to identify trends in spatiotemporal bases of environmental and climatic variables. No trend was identified in the historical series of precipitation data. However, an increasing trend was observed for evapotranspiration, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and temperature. For soil moisture, a decreasing trend was observed. The comparison between the mean of the historical series and the year 2020 showed that the variables precipitation, temperature, soil moisture and evapotranspiration had atypical behavior. Such behavior may have contributed to creating a drier environment with available combustible material, leading to a record number of burned areas, about three million hectares (248%) higher than the historical average. The 2020 fire foci data were used in two types of spatial statistical analyses: Grouping, showing that 76% of the registered fire foci were at high risk of fire and; Hot and Cold Spots, indicating high concentrations of Hot Spots in the northern region of the Pantanal, close to Cerrado and Amazon biomes agricultural frontier. The results of the Land Change Modeler (LCM) tool evidenced a strong transition potential from the natural vegetation to agriculture and pasture in the eastern region of the Pantanal, indicating that this could be, in the future, a region of high concentration of fire foci and possibly high risk of fire. This tool also allowed the prediction of a scenario for 2030 that showed that if measures for environmental protection and combating fires are not adopted, in this year, 20% of the Pantanal areas will be for agricultural and pasture use. Finally, the results suggest that the advance of agriculture in the Pantanal and changes in climatic and environmental variables boosted the increase in fire foci and burned areas in the year 2020.
... período [9][7] [10]. Especificamente, em relação a este último fator, diversos autores alertam para as práticas inadequadas de uso e controle do fogo na gestão pastoril, as quais comprometem não apenas a conservação da biodiversidade [10], mas também impactam negativamente as comunidades locais em termos econômicos e sociais [11][12] [13][14] [15]. ...
... período [9][7] [10]. Especificamente, em relação a este último fator, diversos autores alertam para as práticas inadequadas de uso e controle do fogo na gestão pastoril, as quais comprometem não apenas a conservação da biodiversidade [10], mas também impactam negativamente as comunidades locais em termos econômicos e sociais [11][12] [13][14] [15]. ...
... Entretanto, no caso do Pantanal, a literatura tem mostrado que outras forças podem ter maior relação com os incêndios recentes. Em especial, o avanço da fronteira agrícola nos biomas do entorno, a Amazônia e Cerrado, e alterações nas variáveis climáticas [10]. ...
O Pantanal, maior área úmida tropical do planeta, destaca-se pela predominância da pecuária extensiva como sua principal atividade econômica. O uso do fogo representa ferramenta importante nesse manejo, empregado para renovar pastagens, controlar parasitas e limpar a vegetação. Contudo, entre 2019 e 2020, o bioma enfrentou um aumento alarmante de incêndios, causando danos significativos ao ecossistema, serviços ambientais e tendo substanciais repercussões socioeconômicas. Além da seca, práticas inadequadas de manejo do fogo na pecuária são apontadas como contribuintes para essa situação preocupante. Devido à predominância de propriedades privadas utilizadas para pecuária, compreender as percepções dos pecuaristas sobre o fogo se revela crucial para desenvolver ações de conservação mais efetivas e socialmente justas no ecossistema. Este estudo investigou nuances do uso e manejo do fogo por pecuaristas nas 11 sub-regiões do Pantanal Brasileiro. Entre dezembro de 2021 e março de 2022, foram conduzidas 70 entrevistas semiestruturadas com indivíduos associados à atividade pecuária, de forma presencial e por telefone. Os resultados revelam que, apesar de empregarem o fogo há séculos, atualmente a maior parte dos pecuaristas têm uma visão predominantemente negativa devido aos prejuízos recentes. Pecuaristas tradicionais e recentes diferem em relação à percepção sobre estratégias e momentos considerados apropriados para o uso do fogo. Críticas foram feitas às mudanças recentes no uso da terra, especialmente devido a restrições ambientais, considerando-as facilitadoras do acúmulo de combustível para incêndios. Os entrevistados relataram dúvidas e confusão em relação à legislação que regulamenta o uso do fogo no bioma. Esses resultados apontam a necessidade de ações para aprimorar a compreensão das regulamentações e envolver os pecuaristas no diálogo sobre uma gestão realista do fogo, considerando tanto a conservação da biodiversidade quanto o contexto sociocultural da região.
... Other authors predict that agricultural and pastural lands will account for 20% of the Pantanal area by 2030 if trends stay unabated (Marques et al., 2021). ...
... Total rainfall was calculated at a pixel level for each year, dry season and wet season. (Miranda et al., 2018;Marques et al., 2021). GPP describes the assimilation effect of vegetation on photosynthetic carbon (Monteith, 1972). ...
... Some of these variables have already been the focus of studies on fires in the Pantanal (e.g. Marengo et al., 2021;Marques et al., 2021), but further time-series analyses need to assess the role of all them in influencing fire patterns in the Pantanal. ...
The Pantanal is one of the world’s largest continuous wetlands and one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. In recent years, massive fires following exceptional droughts devastated its ecosystems and brought to light its vulnerability. Because of the high heterogeneity of its landscapes, the important seasonal floods that affects the region, and the increasing development of human activities which alter both, understanding fire patterns in the Pantanal is challenging, but nonetheless crucial for fire management. Still, fire patterns in the Pantanal are largely understudied. This study explores for the first time the influence of floods and productivity on fire patterns, using remote-sensing datasets. Results show that fire frequency in the Pantanal follows a productivity gradient, which is significantly affected by flood patterns. Further research is needed to complement the findings of this work, notably to better understand the variations in vegetation cover promoted by floods and modifying fire patterns.
... In the Pantanal, new combinations of fire regime and behavior are emerging in areas affected by climate change, agro intensification, and other stressors (Marengo et al. 2021;Marques et al. 2021;Correa et al. 2022). Based on the predominant vegetation (native grasslands and planted pastures), the ecoregion is classified as fire-adapted (Pivello et al. 2021). ...
... Still, harsh droughts and many fire outbreaks returned to Pantanal in 2023 and 2024. Large-scale regional trends suggest a hotter and drier Pantanal (Marques et al. 2021). However, there are many gaps about the implications of shifting fire activity. ...
... Yet the fire in the buffer zones has a positive relationship with the annual burned area within PA. In addition, forecasts under climate change indicate an increase in the current ignition frequency for the Pantanal ecoregion (Marques et al. 2021). Studies demonstrated that synergetic effects between fire and flood are not congruent among groups inhabiting the ecoregion (e.g., ants, amphibians, mammals, and plants; Oliveira et al. 2014Oliveira et al. , 2019Arruda et al. 2022;Deus et al. 2023;Moreira et al. 2024). ...
Flooded grasslands and savannas have a long history of seasonal fires. However, recurrent drought events are becoming floodplains more susceptible to human-induced fires. Therefore, we studied the fire regime in six Protected Areas (PA) for Integral Protection of the Pantanal ecoregion. Specifically, we assessed the burned area (occasionally and frequently), the fire extent, and fire seasonality within the PAs between 2004 and 2022. In addition, we established a 10 km buffer from each PA limit to compare landscape trends inside and outside PAs. One-third of fires within the Pantanal PAs occurred in wetlands. Around 10% of the protected area had a fire return interval of less than two years. Most of the PAs burned between July and October. The fire in the buffer zone explained 64% of the variability in the burned area inside PAs. While burned forest cover did not differ between PAs and buffer zones, the burned area in the remaining covers (savanna, grassland, and wetland) was small inside PAs. Our findings highlight the need to focus on the fire management of neighboring private areas in a more preventive way. In addition, Pantanal requires long-term perspectives on wildfires and recurrent burnings in the dry season. With the increasing human pressure on floodplains, translating research into management guidelines is urgently needed.
... In Brazil, the Pantanal region has been particularly affected by wildfires. With fast climate changes, the region has been experiencing a significant increase in temperature [4], [5]. Also a decrease in precipitation leads to a decrease in soil moisture and an increase in the number of days without precipitation [6], [7]. ...
... Future climate changes are expected to provide even more favourable conditions for wildfires to occur [10] [11]. At the same time, advances in agricultural use of the Pantanal region boosted an increase in the practice of burning areas to prepare the soil for later use [5]. A prediction scenario for 2030 shows that if measures for environmental protection and combating fires are not adopted, this year, 20% of the Pantanal areas will be for agricultural and pasture use [5]. ...
... At the same time, advances in agricultural use of the Pantanal region boosted an increase in the practice of burning areas to prepare the soil for later use [5]. A prediction scenario for 2030 shows that if measures for environmental protection and combating fires are not adopted, this year, 20% of the Pantanal areas will be for agricultural and pasture use [5]. ...
Wildfires pose a significant threat to ecosystems, human lives, and infrastructure worldwide. Traditional wildfire detection and risk assessment methods often suffer from limitations such as delayed detection and low confidence in certain regions. In this paper, we propose a novel computational system based on machine learning for wildfire risk assessment using data collected by drones. The system can integrate various sensors to capture spatiotemporal data on environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and vegetation. By leveraging high-resolution data collected through autonomous drone missions, our system enhances wildfire risk estimation and enables proactive mission planning. Although the system is mainly designed to address wildfire monitoring using drone-collected data, it can be easily adapted to other environmental monitoring applications and other sources of data. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through a comprehensive evaluation and validation process in both simulated and real-world environments. Our work contributes to advancing wildfire monitoring capabilities, improving early detection, and mitigating the impact of wildfires on communities and the environment.
... The 2020 wildfires have also been shown to be closely linked with atypical meteorological conditions Marques et al., 2021), particularly a prolonged and severe drought Thielen et al., 2020). Fire danger levels in 2020 reached unseen values over the last 40 years and large burned areas occurred simultaneously with compounded drought and heatwave events . ...
... Fire danger levels in 2020 reached unseen values over the last 40 years and large burned areas occurred simultaneously with compounded drought and heatwave events . Climate change has been occurring fast in the Pantanal, with temperatures rising steadily over the last four decades Marques et al., 2021), along with increased evapotranspiration rates (Marques et al., 2021). Soil moisture has been decreasing (Marques et al., 2021) and the number of days without precipitation has substantially increased, while the water mass during the drought season decreases (Geirinhas et al., 2023;Lázaro et al., 2020). ...
... Fire danger levels in 2020 reached unseen values over the last 40 years and large burned areas occurred simultaneously with compounded drought and heatwave events . Climate change has been occurring fast in the Pantanal, with temperatures rising steadily over the last four decades Marques et al., 2021), along with increased evapotranspiration rates (Marques et al., 2021). Soil moisture has been decreasing (Marques et al., 2021) and the number of days without precipitation has substantially increased, while the water mass during the drought season decreases (Geirinhas et al., 2023;Lázaro et al., 2020). ...
In 2020, the world's largest continuous stretch of wetlands, the Pantanal in South America, recorded its most catastrophic fire season of the last two decades, resulting in severe economic, ecological and health consequences. Regional environmental institutions and communities are taking measures to protect their unique ecosystem, as is the case of the Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural (RPPN) Sesc Pantanal, a national protected area. The reserve was severely affected by the 2020 wildfires and is now en route to recover and intensify prevention strategies. Here, we employ a state-of-the-art satellite-derived burned area dataset and a global climate reanalysis product to map and assess the incidence and vulnerability of this reserve to its most concerning disturbance: wildfires. We validated the remote-sensed burned area product and found that the product successfully maps the years with higher fire activity. Then, we studied historical occurrences of burned areas within the reserve. The results show large burned areas are uncommon, and highlight the year 2020 as an outlier, when around 65 % of the reserve was burned. Climate trends over the last four decades show increasing temperatures and wind speed, and decreasing relative humidity and precipitation. Fire weather is thus steadily rising, bearing favourable conditions for fire activity over the most critical months of the year. This study provides useful information for fire management decisions within the largest privately held natural reserve in Brazil, and further allows the assessment of the applicability and limitations of large-scale and state-of-the-art products to inform decision-making within protected areas.
... The Brazilian Pantanal (herein Pantanal), the world's largest continuous wetland, experienced devastating fires in 2020 (Mataveli et al., 2021). The Pantanal experienced a threefold increase in fires in 2020 compared with the previous year, caused by a combination of severe drought, high temperatures, and policy setbacks like weakened environmental institutions (Marques et al., 2021;Pletsch et al., 2021). In 2020, fires burned approximately 43% of the Pantanal that had not burned in two decades (Garcia et al., 2021)over 17,200 km 2 -and over 50% of natural savannahs and forest vegetation (Kumar et al., 2022). ...
... The study area is composed of contiguous private natural heritage reserves with well-preserved primary, secondary, and gallery forests (59%), associated waterways and wetlands (35%), savannahs (6%), and scarce human productive activities, although there are large livestock operations nearby (Casagrande & Santos-Filho, 2019). The area experienced forest fires between August and September of 2020 that were ignited to clear pasture for neighborhood cattle ranching (Leal Filho et al., 2021;Marques et al., 2021;Teodoro et al., 2022) and exacerbated by the prolonged drought of 2019 and 2020 (Marengo et al., 2021). Overall, fires burned >95% of the study area, with the northern section of the study area experiencing two fires during the study period (ALARMES, 2020). ...
... In this paper, we evaluated changes in occupancy or habitat use for an assemblage of eight species and density for two naturally marked species in the Brazilian Pantanal, where megafires destroyed much of the natural land cover (Kumar et al., 2022;Marques et al., 2021). We found that habitat use or occupancy remained constant for pumas, increased for jaguars, and decreased for ocelots, tapirs, red brocket deer, collared peccaries, giant armadillos, and Azara's agoutis. ...
The increasing frequency and severity of human‐caused fires likely have deleterious effects on species distribution and persistence. In 2020, megafires in the Brazilian Pantanal burned 43% of the biome's unburned area and resulted in mass mortality of wildlife. We investigated changes in habitat use or occupancy for an assemblage of eight mammal species in Serra do Amolar, Brazil, following the 2020 fires using a pre‐ and post‐fire camera trap dataset. Additionally, we estimated the density for two naturally marked species, jaguars Panthera onca and ocelots Leopardus pardalis . Of the eight species, six (ocelots, collared peccaries Dicotyles tajacu , giant armadillos Priodontes maximus , Azara's agouti Dasyprocta azarae , red brocket deer Mazama americana, and tapirs Tapirus terrestris ) had declining occupancy following fires, and one had stable habitat use (pumas Puma concolor ). Giant armadillo experienced the most precipitous decline in occupancy from 0.431 ± 0.171 to 0.077 ± 0.044 after the fires. Jaguars were the only species with increasing habitat use, from 0.393 ± 0.127 to 0.753 ± 0.085. Jaguar density remained stable across years (2.8 ± 1.3, 3.7 ± 1.3, 2.6 ± 0.85/100 km ² ), while ocelot density increased from 13.9 ± 3.2 to 16.1 ± 5.2/100 km ² . However, the low number of both jaguars and ocelots recaptured after the fire period suggests that immigration may have sustained the population. Our results indicate that the megafires will have significant consequences for species occupancy and fitness in fire‐affected areas. The scale of megafires may inhibit successful recolonization, thus wider studies are needed to investigate population trends.
... This lack of research is concerning since considering the economic component is essential for devising strategies to prevent, combat, mitigate, and adapt to wildfires. In the Brazilian Pantanal, there has been an unprecedented surge in wildfires during the last decade (Libonati et al., 2022;Garcia et al., 2021;Marques et al., 2021;Pivello et al., 2021;Correa et al., 2022, Menezes et al. 2022. The wildfires in 2020 alone led to the burning of one-third of the biome, with 43% of the affected area having remained unburnt in the previous two decades, causing further threats to already endangered animal species' refuge areas. ...
... Estimates indicate that the 2020 wildfires immediately killed around 17 million vertebrates (Tomas et al., 2021) and 4 billion invertebrates (Berlinck et al., 2021), with the actual numbers likely higher. The primary causes of these wildfires are the combined effects of climate factors (prolonged droughts and heatwaves), significant land use changes from natural areas to agriculture and pasture, resulting hydrological alterations, inadequate fire management strategies, environmental regulations, and budget constraints affecting firefighting efforts (Libonati et al., 2022;Garcia et al., 2021;Marques et al., 2021;Correa et al., 2022;Damasceno-Junior et al., 2021). ...
... Recent research has explored various impacts associated with these wildfires, including animal deaths, human health issues, and reduced resources available to fauna (Berlinck et al. 2021, Garcia et al. 2021, Marques et al. 2021, Tomas et al. 2021, Correa et al. 2022, Kumar et al., 2022. However, there remains a need for a clearer understanding of how these wildfires negatively affect economies and human communities, not only for those directly impacted but also considering tele-coupling processes and connected economies. ...
... The weather conditions are recognized as one important driver of the fire's occurrence. Climate change is expected to increase the occurrence of extreme weather events such as heavy precipitation and heat waves, which have the potential to alter fire behavior in South America, even in areas where natural fires occur (IPCC, 2019;Marques et al., 2021). Coupled Global Climate Models and Earth System models are essential tools to investigate past, present, and projected future climate change, allowing scientists to better understand the complex and non-linear interactions of future land-use and climate change on fire occurrence. ...
... The project has made essential scientific contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and has also been used to investigate the Fire foci's response to Carbon Dioxide (CO 2 ) forcing. (Fonseca et al., 2019;Marques et al., 2021). According to Jose et al. (2022) and Wei et al. (2023), machine learning techniques have been applied to CMIP, Version 6 (CMIP6) data to improve climate model predictions. ...
... The combined and relative effects of the land-use and climate scenarios on Brazil's fire foci occurrence are still poorly understood, particularly in AFB (where the precipitation is expected to increase in the near future), with the majority of studies focusing on the Amazon Forest (where a decrease in precipitation is expected in the near future) (Fonseca et al., 2019;Marques et al., 2021;Le Page et al., 2017, IPCC, 2019. According to Le Page et al. (2017), climate projections likely will increase the fire's intensity, duration, and size in the Amazon Forest, hindering suppression efforts. ...
Several biomes worldwide have a long history of conflict over fire use and management. The Atlantic Forest Biome (AFB) is a Brazilian biome that suffers the most from land use and cover changes that cause environmental degradation. The impact of climate change is expected to exacerbate this situation, with extreme weather events potentially leading to a higher frequency and intensity of fire. The main goal of this study is to understand the spatiotemporal distribution of fires for future climate scenarios obtained from CMIP6 climate simulations in the AFB in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state, Brazil, using machine learning algorithms. This study selected several environmental and anthropogenic variables as factors associated with the cause, occurrence, and spread of fire. The results showed an uneven fire density distribution in the study area. An extensive fire cluster was found in pasture areas located northeast of RS state, reaching more than 1500 fire foci per km2 on average per year. The final model had a training R2 value of 0.99 and a test R2 value of 0.93. The most significant variable identified by the model was the average maximum temperature during the warm period, while livestock is the most influential economic activity. Regarding the simulated fire densities, the period between 2021 and 2040 in the SSP 5.8–5 scenario displayed maximum values that were equivalent to those observed in 2018, with an expansion in the occurrence region observed for the same scenario. However, unexpectedly, between 2081 and 2100, fire density decreased across all areas under the SSP 5.8–5 scenario. This study provides useful insights into climate change context scenarios, offering valuable insights into the intricate relationship between natural processes and human influences, ultimately contributing to informed decision-making and sustainable environmental management.
... However, few studies have explored interactions and feedback between fire activity, ecosystem characteristics and the consequences in the Gran Chaco and Pantanal ecoregions. Indeed, recent studies indicate that fire activity in the Pantanal is expected to increase in the near future (Marques et al., 2021;Menezes et al., 2022;Libonati et al., 2022). Furthermore, in recent decades, increased anthropogenic burn frequency in these grassland and savanna environments is changing ecosystem dynamics in ways that are not well understood. ...
... On the other hand, larger fires were primarily concentrated in areas within the northeast region that are less impacted by grazing and agriculture, occupying a significant portion of the Pantanal ecoregion. These large fires may be the result from the interplay of an extended dry season and the presence of vast areas of well-connected fine fuels that dry seasonally (Marques et al., 2021;Bernardino et al., 2021). However, human activities amplify environmental factors that control the presence of fire. ...
... Currently, this ecosystem is threatened by the increasing frequency of extreme megafire events. This novel scenario is related to more severe droughts and an escalation of anthropogenic ignitions during the peak of the dry season because of land use intensification (Ferreira Barbosa et al., 2022;Leal Filho et al., 2021;Marques et al., 2021). ...
... Extreme weather events resulting from global climate changes are becoming more common worldwide. With the combination of climatic extremes and recent tendencies of anthropic pressure intensification, wildfires are expected to occur more frequently and at larger extents and intensities (Ferreira Barbosa et al., 2022;Leal Filho et al., 2021;Marques et al., 2021). The approach used in this study permits estimating mortalities associated with different F I G U R E 4 Spatial prediction of the mortalities of medium-large mammals by the Pantanal 2020 megafires in the Sesc Pantanal Reserve, Brazil. ...
Extreme wildfire events, such as the Pantanal 2020 megafires, are expected to become more common. Assessing the impacts of such extreme events on wildlife is imperative for conservation planning. Direct observation of carcasses can provide valuable information on how these impacts relate to spatial heterogeneity.
Here, we use double‐observer carcass surveys to assess the numbers and spatial patterns of direct mortalities of medium‐ to large‐sized mammals resulting from the Pantanal 2020 megafires in a large reserve (1080 km²) in the northern Pantanal wetland. Accounting for imperfect detection, we model the spatial variation in mortality occurrence and abundance, testing the effects of habitat‐related variables and wildfire severity using multi‐species N‐mixture models.
We found that 26 out of 27 species of medium and large‐sized mammals died from the fires with a mean estimate of around 49 thousand individuals. The most affected species included capuchin monkeys, agoutis, peccaries, tapirs, brocket deer, tamanduas, coatis and capybaras.
Direct mortality of mammals by wildfires was affected by landscape factors related to species habitats, species traits (probably related to escape or refuge strategies), and the intensity of the wildfires. Mortalities presented a general positive relationship with non‐flooded forests (a fire‐sensitive habitat in Pantanal) and with the severity of wildfires. Artificial water bodies, a common landscape structure in Pantanal, had 7.5 times more deaths than other areas.
Synthesis and applications: With the approach used, we were able to: (i) identify mortality hotspots associated with landscape features; (ii) simultaneously identify the most affected species and assess the average relationships for all the assemblage of medium‐ and large‐sized mammals. We discuss conservation and management actions in two contexts: species prioritization for rescuing and monitoring; and territory prioritization for fire prevention and fighting.
... Cabe frisar que as atividades antrópicas responsáveis por modificar os regimes climáticos e de uso e cobertura do solo vêm alterando o comportamento dos incêndios florestais mesmo em regiões com ocorrências naturais, como o Pantanal (Marques et al., 2021). O ano de 2020 foi marcado com os maiores registros de incêndios florestais no Brasil, repercutindo em perdas florestais e maiores emissões de GEE (Correa et al., 2022;Cunha et al., 2021;Marques et al., 2021). ...
... Cabe frisar que as atividades antrópicas responsáveis por modificar os regimes climáticos e de uso e cobertura do solo vêm alterando o comportamento dos incêndios florestais mesmo em regiões com ocorrências naturais, como o Pantanal (Marques et al., 2021). O ano de 2020 foi marcado com os maiores registros de incêndios florestais no Brasil, repercutindo em perdas florestais e maiores emissões de GEE (Correa et al., 2022;Cunha et al., 2021;Marques et al., 2021). ...
Propusemos nesta pesquisa, valorar e quantificar as emissões de Gases de Efeito Estufa (GEE) procedentes de desmatamento de 2008 a 2021, além de analisar 21 anos da evolução do desmatamento em três períodos: 2007, 2014 e 2021. A abordagem metodológica, trata-se de um estudo de caso, com natureza quantitativa, sendo os dados coletados da Plataforma Global Forest Watch. Os resultados permitiram identificar a continuidade do desflorestamento na Bacia do Rio São Lourenço (BRSL) no Mato Grosso, entre 2008 e 2021, o período da análise converge com o surgimento de normativas de controle do desmatamento em âmbito estadual e federal, sendo que nesse período o desmatamento alcançou 310.767 hectares (ha). A pesquisa identificou os municípios mais desmatados no período de 2015 a 2021 que foram: Barão do Melgaço e Santo Antônio do Leverger no bioma Pantanal, Poxoréu e Itiquira no bioma Cerrado, sendo que metade dos municípios da BRSL obtiveram aumento de desmatamento. Os municípios do bioma Pantanal apresentaram elevados índices de área desmatada, com cerca de 242.318,99 ha, enquanto no Cerrado Poxoréu e Itiquira perderam 79.368,2 ha. O valor econômico estimado em termos de créditos de carbono atingiu os R$ 4,6 bilhões de perdas calculados para os municípios BRSL entre 2008 e 2021. Essas informações podem ser usadas para melhorar o processo de tomada de decisão dos agentes na formulação de políticas públicas ambientais destinadas a recuperação, reflorestamento e conservação florestal na BRSL.
... In 2020, the Pantanal suffered the longest and most severe drought in the last 60 years 4 , which, combined with high temperatures and reduced soil moisture, led to the largest forest fire ever recorded in the area (Libonati et al. 2020). The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and ALARMES alert system reported that about 3.9 million hectares of the biome were affected by fire in 2020, with more than 15,000 fires registered, three times more than the previous year [5][6][7] . Furthermore, it is essential to underscore the substantial impact of human activities in exacerbating fire events alongside climatic conditions 3,7,8 . ...
... The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and ALARMES alert system reported that about 3.9 million hectares of the biome were affected by fire in 2020, with more than 15,000 fires registered, three times more than the previous year [5][6][7] . Furthermore, it is essential to underscore the substantial impact of human activities in exacerbating fire events alongside climatic conditions 3,7,8 . The accumulation of dry biomass, resulting from factors such as drought and deforestation, coupled with the uncontrolled use of fire for land clearance purposes, significantly contributes to the escalation of fire incidents and the creation of favorable conditions for their rapid propagation 2,3 . ...
We conducted a study on the effects of fire on Rhamnidium elaeocarpum, a widely distributed woody species found in the Pantanal wetlands, using LC–MS metabolomics, total phenolic and tannin content analysis, and thermogravimetric behavior. We sampled individuals from four groups: No Fire, Fire 2019, Fire 2020, and APD 20 (individuals whose aerial parts had died during the 2020 fire event). We found that recent fires had no significant impact on the species' phenolic metabolism except for those in the fourth group. These specimens showed a decline in secondary metabolites due to leaching. The high levels of phenolics in R. elaeocarpum suggest that this species has a biochemical tolerance to the stress caused by seasonal fires. Metabolomic profiling revealed the presence of proanthocyanidin oligomers, which protect against oxidative stress and post-fire environmental disturbances. However, the passage of fire also led to a high incidence of toxic karwinaphthopyranone derivatives, which could be a concern for the species' medicinal use. Finally, the thermogravimetric analysis showed that the species is thermotolerant, with an intrinsic relationship between the secondary compounds and thermotolerance. Our research has deepened the comprehension of how fire affects the metabolic processes of woody plants. The challenge now lies in determining if the identified chemical changes are adaptive characteristics that evolved over time or merely transient responses to external environmental stimuli.
... gov.br/legislacao-ambiental/leis/) which regulates payments for environmental services, seem to be heading in the right direction. Although our model deserves additional efforts to consider large-scale external forces (Marques et al., 2021), the study area is highly relevant in the context of sustainable food production, climate change mitigation, and carbon sequestration (Ioris, 2014). The avulsive nature of the river in the active lobe, however, presents major challenges for choosing an appropriate baseline for additionality (Loisel & Walenta, 2022), as Nature's Contribution to People (NCP) from the aquatic phase can be a sink of flooded carbon (Dalmagro et al., 2022), and from the terrestrial phase, the stock of living forest and soil biomass (Borges Pinto et al., 2020). ...
... Despite this, more robust models do not change the situation that 30 years ago people and the government were completely surprised by the rapid changes in the landscape, and this has generated conflicts that extend to the present day (Schulz et al., 2019). Even with uncertainties associated with climate and sediment supply (Marques et al., 2021;Reboita et al., 2022;Roque et al., 2021;Wosiacki et al., 2021), our results indicate that the new Taquari is undergoing dramatic changes within the generational timeframe, which means that decisions and practices need to be taken with a long-term perspective. ...
The largest crevasse in the Taquari River megafan in the Pantanal, Brazil with a perennial flooded area of ~500,000 ha, was initiated in 1997 and impacted the environment and people. Here, we spatially characterize and explored a model aiming at predicting the evolution of the rechanneling of the Taquari River within this huge flooded area. Our approach is based on a spatiotemporal dry/wet index (R), which measures the degree of moisture in six major land cover classes. The index was annually estimated from MapBiomas Landsat rasters between 1996 and 2021 and calculated for 142 grid cells (5 × 5 km each). Temporal regressions were then used to predict the state of individual grids in the long term, up to 2080. The results suggest a gradual and slow terrestrialization between 1997 and 2021 as areas returned to pre-avulsion levels, mainly in the eastern and northern limits, closer to the crevasse. Modeling projections suggest that river rechanneling of the Taquari River might be completed by 2080 with its new mouth on the Paraguay-Mirim River. Large areas that are currently aquatic (open water, flooded soils, and flooded vegetation) are predicted to return to terrestrial state (forests and pastures) in the long term.
... Although this is the first detection of Alphacoronavirus in bats from the Pantanal, in addition to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and the Amazon, CoV-infected bats have been identified in 11 countries on the American continent [28,29]. Areas with high biological diversity such as the Pantanal have been sought after for tourist activities, which is why some areas have preserved natural environments; other areas, however, have undergone major anthropogenic transformations and offer chances of becoming foci of future epidemics [30]. Major environmental disasters such as those that occurred in 2020 with the wildfires in the Pantanal also harm biodiversity, favoring the spread of pathogens. ...
Coronaviruses (CoV) infect a wide variety of hosts, causing epidemics in humans, birds, and mammals over the years. Bats (order Chiroptera) are one of the natural hosts of the Coronaviridae family. They represent 40% of the total number of mammal species in the Pantanal, a biodiversity hotspot in South America. Given the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we investigated the presence of CoV in bats captured in the Brazilian Pantanal. Oral and rectal swabs collected in 2021 from 419 bats were analyzed using Pancoronavirus-nested PCR targeting the RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp) gene. Orthocoronavirinae was detected in 16.7% (70/419) of the bats; nine samples were sequenced, confirming that Carollia perspicillata (4), Phyllostomus hastatus (2), Desmodus rotundus (1), Molossus rufus (1), and Myotis cf. nigricans (1) collected in buildings formally used by humans were infected by Alphacoronavirus genera. This is the first description of Alphacoronavirus in bats from the Pantanal. As they are natural reservoirs of CoVs, constant monitoring of bats is important to comprehend the epidemiology of emerging viruses, especially in the Pantanal biome.
... Alterações no uso e a cobertura da terra têm sido apontados como um dos fatores principais para a ocorrência de incêndios no Pantanal [p.ex., 2,3,4,5]. No entanto, os estudos exemplificados se concentraram em análises gerais e agregadas, deixando de lado a importância de considerar a distribuição espacial dos incêndios e as variáveis de uso e cobertura da terra de forma espacialmente explícita. ...
ABSTRACT This study analyzes the relationship between the occurrence of fire hotspots and land use and land cover in the Pantanal between 2013 and 2023, based on data from Programa Queimadas/INPE and annual land use and cover data from MapBiomas, both spatialized in regular grids of 10 km × 10 km. Spatial autocorrelation analysis (Mantel test) and generalized linear regression models were used to describe the relationships between the variables. In 2020, there was a 400% increase in fire hotspots compared to the historical average studied. No spatial autocorrelation was observed in the occurrence of fire hotspots within the cells. Land use and cover classes explained up to 21% of the variability in the number of hotspots in the cells, and landscapes with greater native vegetation cover tend to have a higher incidence of fire hotspots than those with cultivated pastures and agriculture. On the other hand, there is evidence that the risk of fires is higher in landscapes where agricultural and ranching activities are in their early stages.
... Además de la creciente deforestación (Guerra et al., 2020), en los últimos años el Pantanal está sufriendo incendios cada vez más grandes y frecuentes (Marques et al., 2021), que provocan un impacto severo en la fauna de vertebrados (Tomas et al., 2021). Si queremos conservar las poblaciones de T. lagunablanca en el Pantanal se recomienda priorizar la protección y conservación de árboles maduros, que puede impulsarse mejorando la prevención de incendios y las políticas de uso sostenible del territorio (Tomas et al., 2024). ...
El movimiento de los animales determina la eficacia biológica de los individuos, y la composición de poblaciones, comunidades y ecosistemas, condicionando también fenómenos como la transmisión de enfermedades y parásitos, la polinización o la dispersión de semillas. Por eso es clave comprender las causas y
consecuencias del movimiento animal. Este artículo pretende ser una introducción para quien quiera trabajar en movimiento animal, y, más concretamente, en selección de hábitat. Para ello, he resumido el marco teórico de la ecología del movimiento y sus principales métodos y temáticas de estudio: análisis de trayectorias, estudio de los patrones de movimiento y las áreas de campeo y selección de hábitat. A continuación, explico el marco teórico de la selección de hábitat, ilustrando los principales métodos de estudio con algunos estudios de caso específicos
sobre reptiles y mamíferos. Al final, discuto las principales ventajas de cada método de estudio en selección de hábitat.
... Furthermore, changing fire patterns may increase carbon emissions and consequently interfere with and accelerate climate change (Bloem et al., 2022). Man, in turn, is the leading modifying agent of both fires and climate change (Marques et al., 2021). ...
Bibliometrics has been widely applied across various scientific domains as a valuable tool to assess scientific evolution and identify developmental trends. Fire ecology, an emerging field, represents a significant ecological and evolutionary force that regulates populations and communities across time and space. Consequently, studies on how anthropogenic land use changes have altered fire regimes are increasing. This study seeks to analyze the evolution, geographical distribution, and collaboration patterns of scientific knowledge to understand trends in the literature and the primary conceptual and methodological foundations underlying research on land use change impacts on fire dynamics. Using the SCOPUS database, we employed bibliometric tools to examine key descriptive patterns in the literature. Co-occurrence networks were applied to identify scientific advancements based on titles, abstracts, and keywords, while a detailed analysis of 10% of the most cited articles offered insight into prevalent methodologies. We identified 295 relevant publications, with the United States and Brazil leading the research, highlighting substantial cooperation between these two countries. Among the authors, Shimabukuro Y. was the most prolific. Remote Sensing was the predominant journal for publication. Analysis of co-occurrence networks and the most cited articles indicated extensive use of satellite data, with applications in mapping and monitoring burned areas and identifying factors driving the emergence and shifts in fire regimes.
... In addition, current and future human activities in the Paraguay River Basin, such as dam construction (Jardim et al., 2020), land use change (de Oliveira Roque et al., 2021;Ferreira Barbosa et al., 2022), water pollution (Camargo et al., 2022;Viana et al., 2022), and climate change (Marengo et al., 2021;Marques et al., 2021;Findlay, 2022), threaten the biodiversity and the hydrologic cycle of the region suggesting severe consequences not only for the conservation of this natural area but for societies benefiting from the Paraguay River ecosystem (Metcalfe and Menone, 2020). ...
The Paraguay River Basin forms part of the La Plata River Basin in South America. Its streamflow is significantly attenuated by a high evapotranspiration rate, very gentle slopes and the presence of a vast wetland known as the Pantanal. Modeling the hydrology of watersheds in which the flood pulse is affected by the presence of large floodplains can pose issues for hydrological models that do not account for spatial complexity and simplify water routing using linear assumptions. The new version of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool, known as SWAT+, routes water using variations of the kinematic wave model. However, with the inclusion of connectivity and Landscape Units, SWAT+ provides more flexibility in terms of representing the hydrologic fluxes in the watershed. The main objective of this study is to use the concept of Landscape Units and connectivity to represent the water exchanges between uplands, floodplains and channels. We developed code routines to (1) temporally retain surface and subsurface water coming from the upland into the floodplain, by assuming a reservoir-like floodplain behavior, and (2) represent overbank flow, aiming to fully simulate the interactions between channels and floodplains. The model was calibrated based on monthly discharge for the period 1990 to 2020. The simulated average annual water storage in the floodplains of the Paraguay River is ~108.81 mm accounting for 56.5% of the total annual discharge at the outlet. Furthermore, ~61% of the total annual surface runoff in the Paraguay River Basin flows through the floodplains. Results indicate that the model is able to capture the hydrologic regime in the Paraguay River representing an improvement of SWAT+.
... Todos os Biomas Brasileiros já vem sentindo os impactos das alterações climáticas em curso. O Pantanal (Lázaro et al., 2020;Marques et al., 2021;Marengo et al., 2016; é um dos biomas profundamente impactado pelas mudanças climáticas, cujos alguns impactos podem ser nesse contexto. O aumento da frequência de eventos climáticos extremosno caso do Pantanal, as ondas de inundações (alternância entre as épocas de seca e de cheia), estão sendo alterados e serão ainda mais. ...
As atuais alterações do clima no planeta, representam desafios pela forma, abrangência e velocidade com que estão acontecendo e suas consequências. A variabilidade do clima e dos eventos extremos tem afetado todas as regiões brasileiras e todos os biomas. Durante os primeiros anos do século XXI, as mudanças tem afetado o ciclo hidrológico, os ecossistemas, o clima, entre outras. No Nordeste do Brasil a precipitação diminui à medida que o clima fica mais quente. As mudanças climáticas alteram os valores de precipitação e aumentam a variabilidade dos eventos de precipitação, o que pode levar a enchentes e secas ainda mais intensas e frequentes. Essas mudanças tem atingido os setores econômicos e a biodiversidade na Região, que conta com a desertificação da Caatinga, um desafio que se soma aos impactos das alterações climáticas no semiárido. Os aspectos centrais com a metodologia visam a avaliação dos impactos das alterações climáticas utilizando revisão de literatura, visando a conhecer os impactos dessas alterações em suas várias dimensões. O resultado desse ensaio aponta para a necessidade de uma mudança de um novo paradigma socioeconômico em termos de desenvolvimento sustentável e harmônico. A vulnerabilidade social combinada aos efeitos negativos das mudanças climáticas sobre a oferta de alimentos deve agravar a insegurança alimentar e não apenas. As ações para enfrentar a emergência climática devem focar especialmente nas pessoas e setores sociais mais vulneráveis e em condições socioambientais precárias, que são os que mais sofrem com seus efeitos.
... The Pantanal has recently been affected by large forest fires. The main causes of these high-intensity fires are related to a combination of human activities and climate change [18] [19]. Changes in land use and land cover are increasing rapidly [20], climate change scenarios predict a warmer biome [21], so there is a possibility that forested environments will continue to be affected by high-intensity fires. ...
O Pantanal é um bioma brasileiro dependente do fogo. Tanto o pulso de inundação anual como os eventos de fogo são importantes drivers que condicionam a estrutura das suas formações vegetais. Dentre as fisionomias do bioma encontram-se os paleo-levees, que são antigas formações de vegetação ciliares associadas a canais de rios abandonados conhecidas como cordilheiras. Esses ambientes, quando atingidos por fogo, podem ter estrutura e composição de espécies alteradas. Muitas árvores do Pantanal são adaptadas ao fogo e às inundações, entretanto, incêndios de alta intensidade podem resultar em impactos adicionais na estrutura da vegetação. Dessa forma, conduzimos um estudo em áreas de levees no Refúgio Ecológico Caiman após o incêndio de 2019. Investigamos como a estrutura e composição das espécies podem ser afetadas pelo fogo. O estudo mostrou que há diferenças na composição das espécies entre áreas queimadas e não queimadas, atribuídas ao histórico de incêndios nas áreas analisadas. A área não queimada está sem queimadas há mais de 25 anos, enquanto a área queimada passou por incêndios em 2007 e 2019. Embora não tenha sido observado diferenças significativas em riqueza, abundância, área basal e diversidade, constatamos que o fogo afeta a composição das espécies. Foi observada resiliência em espécies como Curatella americana e Attalea phalerata, que mostram capacidade de regeneração após incêndios. Os resultados indicam que a vegetação das áreas de cordilheiras do Refúgio Ecológico Caiman é resiliente ao fogo, destacando a importância dessas áreas no manejo integrado do fogo, já que, mesmo se afetadas, não sofrerão grandes mudanças estruturais.
... and resulted in air pollution levels comparable to those in South America. In the vast tropical areas, fires are primarily driven by anthropogenic activities (Marques et al., 2021;Ward et al., 2018), leading to relatively stable emissions from year to year. In 265 contrast, most biomass burning in boreal regions is caused by wildfires, which are less inhibited by human activities. ...
Fires are a significant disturbance in Earth’s systems. Smoke aerosols emitted from fires can cause environmental degradation and climatic perturbations, leading to exacerbated air pollution and posing hazards to public health. However, research on the climatic and health impacts of fire emissions is severely limited by the scarcity of air pollution data directly attributed to these emissions. Here, we develop a global daily fire-sourced PM2.5 concentration ([PM2.5]) dataset at a spatial resolution of 0.25° for the period 2000–2023, using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model driven with two fire emission inventories, the Global Fire Emissions Database version 4.1 with small fires (GFED4.1s) and the Quick Fire Emission Dataset version 2.5r1 (QFED2.5) . Simulated all-source [PM2.5] are bias-corrected using a machine learning algorithm, which incorporates ground observations from over 9000 monitoring sites worldwide. Then the simulated ratios between fire- and all-source [PM2.5] at individual grids are applied to derive fire-sourced [PM2.5]. Globally, the average fire-sourced [PM2.5] is estimated to be 1.94 μg m-3 with GFED4.1s and 3.74 μg m-3 with QFED2.5. Both datasets show consistent spatial distributions with regional hotspots in central Africa and widespread decreasing trends over most areas. While the mean levels of fire-sourced [PM2.5] are much larger at low latitudes, fire episodes at the boreal regions can cause comparable PM2.5 levels as in the tropics. This dataset serves as a valuable tool for exploring the impacts of fire-related air pollutants on climate, ecosystems, and public health, enabling accurate assessments and supports for decision-making in environmental management and policy.
... For example, the high inundation wet season in 2018/2019 followed by low water years in 2019/ 2020 observed in the Pantanal might be associated with the catastrophic fire event that engulfed the Pantanal wetlands in both 2019 and 2020 (Leal Filho et al., 2021). The aftermath of this extensive fire outbreak raises concerns regarding the long-term ecological consequences, as initial indications suggest that the Pantanal's unique biodiversity hotspot may face challenges in fully recovering from the unprecedented scale of these fires (Correa et al., 2022;Marques et al., 2021). ...
The UC Berkeley Random Walk Algorithm WaterMask from CYGNSS (Berkeley‐RWAWC) is a new data product designed to address the challenges of monitoring inundation in regions hindered by dense vegetation and cloud cover as is the case in most of the Tropics. The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) constellation provides data with a higher temporal repeat frequency compared to single‐satellite systems, offering the potential for generating moderate spatial resolution inundation maps with improved temporal resolution while having the capability to penetrate clouds and vegetation. This paper details the development of a computer vision algorithm for inundation mapping over the entire CYGNSS domain (37.4°N–37.4°S). The sole reliance on CYGNSS data sets our method apart in the field, highlighting CYGNSS's indication of water existence. Berkeley‐RWAWC provides monthly, low‐latency inundation maps starting in August 2018 and across the CYGNSS latitude range, with a spatial resolution of 0.01° × 0.01°. Here we present our workflow and parameterization strategy, alongside a comparative analysis with established surface water data sets (SWAMPS, WAD2M) in four regions: the Amazon Basin, the Pantanal, the Sudd, and the Indo‐Gangetic Plain. The comparisons reveal Berkeley‐RWAWC's enhanced capability to detect seasonal variations, demonstrating its usefulness in studying tropical wetland hydrology. We also discuss potential sources of uncertainty and reasons for variations in inundation retrievals. Berkeley‐RWAWC represents a valuable addition to environmental science, offering new insights into tropical wetland dynamics.
... However, we stress the perceived impact of this single incident at several levels of organization, from species to the assemblage, highlighting its severe and widespread negative consequences. Wildfire activity and its impacts on biodiversity are being transformed by anthropogenic drivers, such as climate and land use changes 30 , tending to increase conditions that favor wildfires in the Pantanal in the forthcoming years 49 . Cumulative effects, frequency, and severity of wildfires are responsible for reducing the diversity and abundance of organisms 4,5,7,43. ...
Although considered an evolutionary force responsible for shaping ecosystems and biodiversity, fires’ natural cycle is being altered by human activities, increasing the odds of destructive megafire events. Here, we show that forest type modulates the responses of terrestrial mammals, from species to assemblage level, to a catastrophic megafire in the Brazilian Pantanal. We unraveled that mammalian richness was higher 1 year after fire passage compared to a pre-fire condition, which can be attributed to habitat modification caused by wildfires, attracting herbivores and open-area tolerant species. We observed changes in assemblage composition between burned/unburned sites, but no difference in mammalian richness or relative abundance. However, by partitioning the effects of burned area proportion per forest type (monospecific vs. polyspecific), we detected differential responses of mammals at several levels of organization, with pronounced declines in species richness and relative abundance in monospecific forests. Eighty-six percent of the species presented moderate to strong negative effects on their relative abundance, with an overall strong negative effect for the entire assemblage. Wildfires are predicted to be more frequent with climate and land use change, and if events analogous to Pantanal-2020 become recurrent, they might trigger regional beta diversity change, benefitting open-area tolerant species.
... Anthropogenic aspects, including changes in land use (e.g., [28,29]), and the implications of climate change, are discussed in [30]. This study analyzes how the combined effects of precipitation, temperature, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration exhibited atypical behavior during this period. ...
We present a novel statistical methodology for analyzing shifts in spatio-temporal fire occurrence patterns within the Brazilian Pantanal, utilizing remote sensing data. Our approach employs a Log-Gaussian Cox Process to model the spatiotemporal dynamics of fire occurrence, deconstructing the intensity function into components of trend, seasonality, cycle, covariates, and time-varying spatial effects components. The results indicate a negative correlation between rainfall and fire intensity, with lower precipitation associated with heightened fire intensity. Forest formations exhibit a positive effect on fire intensity, whereas agricultural land use shows no significant impact. Savannas and grasslands, typical fire-dependent ecosystems, demonstrate a positive relationship with fire intensity. Human-induced fires, often used for agricultural purposes, contribute to an increase in both fire frequency and intensity, particularly in grassland areas. Trend analysis reveals fluctuating fire activity over time, with notable peaks in 2018–2021.
... Both these activities are the impact of human beings which directly or indirectly be the reason behind climate change. "Anthropogenic activities are responsible for modifying climatic regimes and land use" (Marques, et al., 2021). The author didn't show the direct impact of these activities, but she indirectly tells the reader that humans are the reason behind this ecological catastrophe which is known as anthropogenic climate change. ...
Objective: Climate change is an alarming concept prevailing as a threat to human existence. The paper aims to emphasise on climate change, a concern for environment portrayed in Anuradha Roy’s novel An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008). Extending this hypothesis, the paper aims to scrutinize the changes happening in the climate and environment in the novel during the partition period in India. Method: The researchers have used qualitative research and to bring this research with a descriptive approach. However, the researcher lays out the study under the main theory of ecocriticism and narrows it down to the specific concept of ‘Climate change’. Result: The novel An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008) is set on the outskirts of West Bengal, which is located in the northern part of India. A widower character in the novel is finding it difficult to get attached to his motherless daughter who is quite close to an orphan boy named Mukunda, adopted by the family. The characters in the novel live in tune with nature and find certain difficulties to continue their lifestyle because of climate change. Conclusion: In the explication on the concept of ‘climate change’ the researcher examines the relevant concepts like anthropocentric and anthropogenic which might be the cause of climate change. The main scope of this paper is to prioritize the concept of climate change for sustaining nature.
... Despite the claimed resilience of species inhabiting grasslands and savannas, there was substantial evidence for the influence of burned areas, even under modest human land use. Large-scale regional trends point to a hotter and drier Pantanal in the future (Marques et al., 2021), and therefore, an increase in the current ignition frequency is also expected. With that in mind, addressing knowledge gaps about the natural history of amphibian species (i.e., movement patterns, thermal and physiological constraints) is crucial to inform policy and management initiatives on wildfire effects. ...
Fire and land cover are two elements intertwined with the natural history of organisms from seasonally dry environments. Here, we investigated the influence of fire attributes (burned area and frequently-burned area) and land cover on the relative abundance of three amphibians from the Pantanal ecoregion that belong to distinct ecomorphological groups: Chiasmocleis albopunctata, Pseudis platensis, and Scinax acuminatus. We systematically reviewed amphibian ecology studies in the Pantanal and analysed quantitative data between 2000 and 2021, comprising 34 sites from 12 amphibian surveys. Amphibian abundance, land cover, and fire data were assessed within buffers of a 1000 m radius. Species abundance was correlated with burned area and wetland cover. While the abundance of C. albopunctata and P. platensis decreased with burned area in the last three years, the abundance of S. acuminatus increased with wetland cover. Despite the claimed resilience of species inhabiting grasslands and savannas, there was substantial evidence for the influence of burned areas, even under modest human land use. Our findings illustrate that a broad array of land cover and fire attributes may influence amphibian persistence in the Pantanal ecoregion, with the magnitude depending on species traits often overlooked in modelling approaches.
... The Atlantic Forest rainforest and the Cerrado savannas are both biodiversity hotspots, having high rates of both endemism and loss of vegetation cover (Myers et al., 2000). The Atlantic Forest, along the coast of Brazil, is the second largest rainforest in South America (Marques et al., 2021), with only 28 % of its original vegetation cover remaining (Rezende et al., 2018). The Cerrado savanna, in central Brazil, is the largest tropical savanna in South America, having lost 46.2 % of its original vegetation cover (Ratter et al., 1997, MapBiomas, 2021. ...
Protected areas (PAs) are a cornerstone strategy for conserving biodiversity, but species’ range shifts and contractions in response to climate change hinder their effectiveness in the near future. There have been conflicting reports in the literature as to the extent that this is likely to be a problem. Here we used a meta-analytical approach to investigate the issue using Brazil as a case study. Brazil has continental dimensions and extraordinary biodiversity, a large PA system, and solid research on the impact of climate change on biodiversity. From 56 articles assessing the impacts of climate change on PAs, we compiled 342 measures of risk projection, mostly of changes in species’ ranges. >70 % of the risk projections point to negative impacts, due to species moving out of PAs. Thus, the current Brazilian PA network is not robust against climate change. The PAs in the Amazon are
predicted to be the most impacted and indigenous lands are particularly at risk, followed by PAs in the Cerrado
savannas and the Atlantic Forest. Thus, the Brazilian PA system needs to be expanded, explicitly incorporating climate change in systematic conservation planning, to incorporate underrepresented species and regions in order to make the system more robust.
... Among these challenges, anthropogenic pollution is one of the greatest threats and is leading to the loss of biodiversity and harming animal, human, and environmental health (Myers et al., 2013). Plastic is among the most prevalent global pollutants (Díaz et al., 2019;Marques et al., 2021) and it is estimated that the input of plastics into ecosystems will triple within 20 years unless immediate action is taken to reduce their production and limit their use (da Costa, 2021). ...
The human population of Galapagos has rapidly increased in the last decades accelerating the anthropogenic pressures on the archipelago’s natural resources. The growing human footprint, including inadequate management of garbage, may lead to conservation conflicts. Here, we assessed the ingestion of debris by Western Santa Cruz giant tortoises (Chelonoidis porteri) within human-modified and protected areas. Additionally, we characterized environmental debris and quantified tortoise abundance together with tortoise fecal samples. We processed a total of 6629 fecal samples along a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance based on human debris presence. We found 590 pieces of debris in samples within human-modified areas (mean of 3.97 items/kg of feces) and only two pieces in the protected area (mean of 0.08 items/kg of feces). Plastic waste was the predominant category in feces within the anthropic area (86.3%; n = 511), followed by cloth, metal, paper, synthetic rubber, construction materials, and glass. On average, the proportion of plastic was higher in feces (84%) than it was in environmental debris (67%), denoting that plastics are more readily ingested than other types of debris. We also found that green, white, and light blue plastics were consumed more often than their prevalence in the environment, suggesting color discrimination. Tortoise abundance was higher in the protected area when compared to the human-modified area; however, recapture rates were higher in anthropized landscapes which increases tortoise exposure to plastics and other human associated threats. Our results indicate that plastics are frequently consumed by tortoises in the polluted anthropic areas of western Santa Cruz, but scarce in protected areas. More research is needed to understand the negative impacts associated with plastics for Galapagos terrestrial species. We encourage local stakeholders to implement current policies limiting expansion of urban areas, plastic use, and improving waste management systems to minimize threats to human and animal health.
... "Anthropogenic activities are responsible for modifying climatic regimes and land use" (Marques, et al., 2021). The author didn't show the direct impact of these activities, but she indirectly tells the reader that humans are the reason behind this ecological catastrophe which is known as anthropogenic climate change. ...
Objective: Climate change is an alarming concept prevailing as a threat to human existence. The paper aims to emphasise on climate change, a concern for environment portrayed in Anuradha Roy’s novel An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008). Extending this hypothesis, the paper aims to scrutinize the changes happening in the climate and environment in the novel during the partition period in India. Method: The researchers have used qualitative research and to bring this research with a descriptive approach. However, the researcher lays out the study under the main theory of ecocriticism and narrows it down to the specific concept of ‘Climate change’. Result: The novel An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008) is set on the outskirts of West Bengal, which is located in the northern part of India. A widower character in the novel is finding it difficult to get attached to his motherless daughter who is quite close to an orphan boy named Mukunda, adopted by the family. The characters in the novel live in tune with nature and find certain difficulties to continue their lifestyle because of climate change. Conclusion: In the explication on the concept of ‘climate change’ the researcher examines the relevant concepts like anthropocentric and anthropogenic which might be the cause of climate change. The main scope of this paper is to prioritize the concept of climate change for sustaining nature.
... The Pantanal has been undergoing changes in air temperature during the period of highest concentration of BC, indicating the influence of the increase in the number of fires on the micrometeorology of the region. This becomes even more aggravating when there is a significant increase in the number of fires in recent years (Marques et al. 2021;Filho et al. 2021). In Fig. 5, the monthly mean values of PAR radiation are plotted against BC. ...
Currently, changes in rainfall regimes have intensified biomass burning in central Brazil. These fires, resulting mainly from anthropic action, emit large amounts of gases and aerosols into the atmosphere. The emission of these constituents in the dry season can drastically alter the functioning of ecosystems. In this work, it was verified that the high concentrations of Black Carbon (BC) have a direct relationship with the air temperature and influence the carbon capture process. This study was the result of a long-term campaign carried out in the northern region of the Brazilian Pantanal, between 2017 and 2019. Measurements of CO2 fluxes were evaluated together with measurements of temperature, radiation and BC concentrations. The results showed that in some episodes, the increase in BC concentration inhibits photosynthetically active radiation and increases air temperature. As a consequence of the increase in BC concentration, a reduction in carbon capture was observed. In a specific episode in October 2017, this work estimated a deficit of 1.65 kg.m−2 in CO2 capture due to the emission of BC in the Pantanal.
... Among the main causes, drought, improper human use of fires, and insufficient resources and personnel for fire surveillance and control have been identified as potential contributing factors [59,60]. Additionally, several studies suggest a correlation between wildfires and deforestation and agribusiness activities [58,61]. The natural dry season in the EASP park may be accompanied by isolated natural fire outbreaks. ...
The Encontro das Águas State Park (EASP), renowned as the world’s largest refuge for Jaguars (Panthera onca), is located within the Brazilian portion of the Pantanal biome, and it covers a vast area of approximately 1,080 square kilometers. This ecologically rich region suffered significant devastation from extensive fires in 2020. Given that the ongoing monitoring of wildfires is a crucial task for the preservation of fauna and flora in legally protected environments such as the Pantanal biome, this paper investigates the catastrophic 2020 fire incidents in the EASP reserve through a fully automated methodology capable of detecting and characterizing fire-devastated areas. By taking updated and accurate data from the Google Earth Engine platform, our approach integrates a comprehensive collection of MODIS sensor images, spectral indices, and filtering processes to generate a spatial map of fire-affected areas in a given period of analysis. Specifically, given a surface reflectance and atmospheric corrected MODIS (MOD09Q/A1) image series, the NBR index is computed from each image and then processed through Savitzky-Golay filtering to remove noisy and missing data. Next, the ΔNBR index is calculated for each consecutive pair of images so as to produce a frequency map of burned areas. In order to quantify and analyze the recent changes due to these successive wildfires that took place in this Pantanal portion, we focused on the devastating fire events that occurred in the EASP park from July to September 2020. The fire mappings were assessed and statistically validated using the kappa coefficient and significance tests computed through reference samples collected from official databases and visual inspection. The findings revealed that, tragically, 84% of the study area experienced at least one instance of fire during the three-month investigation period. The high temporal resolution of MODIS sensors proves to be extremely valuable in promptly and effectively detecting changes in land use.
... In this regard, investigations that correlate the flora with environmental and spatial variables can be important for effective conservation strategies, as they allow the recognition of the main structuring factors of floristic gradients (Oliveira-Filho and Fontes 2000) and infer, for example, how restricted is the niche of species occurring in certain regions (Bueno et al. 2018;Cupertino-Eisenlohr et al. 2021). This type of investigation becomes even more relevant to support conservation actions in regions where biodiversity suffers intense anthropic pressures, as is the case of the Amazon-Cerrado-Pantanal mosaic, where the advance of agribusiness in synergy with the effects of climate change has caused rapid and devastating changes in land use and land cover (Lourençoni et al. 2021;Marques et al. 2021). Here, we explore the composition of tree species and their correlation with environmental and spatial variables in the Amazon-Cerrado-Pantanal vegetation mosaic, aiming to answer the following questions and test the following hypotheses: i) Would it be possible to classify the phytogeographic domains and vegetation types of the Amazon-Cerrado-Pantanal mosaic into distinct floristic groups? ...
Biotic interchange plays a key role in the assembly of regional biotas in the Neotropics. The transition between different phytogeographic regions promotes a floristic mixture that offers a useful model to investigate the role of deterministic processes in the structuring of Neotropical communities at regional scales. We aimed to examine a possible separation of the phytogeographic domains and vegetation types of the Amazon-Cerrado-Pantanal mosaic into distinct floristic groups, and to elucidate the drivers that explain its tree species composition. Based on 30,930 occurrence records of 2,258 tree species, besides environmental variables, we used clustering (UPGMA), ordination (PCoA and RDA) and variation partitioning analyses. The seven floristic groups that emerged in the Amazon-Cerrado-Pantanal mosaic generally reflected the floristic identity at the phytophysiognomic level. Grassy cover, followed by seasonal potential evapotranspiration, temperature seasonality, silt, water bodies coverage and topographic wetness index (TWI) were the most important predictors of floristic variation. We discuss how our study allows advance in the phytogeographic knowledge of such comprehensive South American mosaic.
... PBs contribute to reducing the fine combustible material in the area, as this coverage presents higher rates of propagation and intensity compared to forested areas [96]. The homogenization in the Pantanal biome is mainly due to activities resulting from changes in land use, namely the opening of vegetation for pastures and agricultural areas, making the territories more homogeneous and potentially intensifying fires [31,97]. Homogeneous areas will be more affected by fire than heterogeneous areas, where the impact of fire is lower (M3). ...
The controlled use of fires to reduce combustible materials in prescribed burning helps to prevent the occurrence of forest fires. In recent decades, these fires have mainly been caused by anthropogenic activities. The study area is located in the Pantanal biome. In 2020, the greatest drought in 60 years happened in the Pantanal. The fire affected almost one third of the biome. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of prescribed burnings carried out in 2021 on three macrohabitats (M1: natural grassland flooded with a proliferation of Combretum spp., M2: natural grassland of seasonal swamps, and M3: natural grassland flooded with a proliferation of Vochysia divergens) inside the SESC Pantanal Private Natural Heritage Reserve. Multispectral and thermal data analyses were conducted with remotely piloted aircraft systems in 1 ha plots in three periods of the dry season with early, mid, and late burning. The land use and land cover classification indicate that the predominant vegetation type in these areas is seasonally flooded grassland, with percentages above 73%, except in zone three, which has a more diverse composition and structure, with the presence of arboreal specimens of V. divergem Pohl. The pattern of the thermal range showed differentiation pre- and post-burning. The burned area index indicated that fire was more efficient in the first two macrohabitats because they are natural grasslands, reducing the grass species in the burnings. Early and mid prescribed burnings are a good option to reduce the continuous accumulation of dry forest biomass fuel material and help to promote landscape heterogeneity. The use of multispectral sensor data with high spatial/spectral resolution can show the effects of fires, using highly detailed scales for technical decision making.
... In 2020, the Pantanal suffered from the longest and most severe drought in the last 60 years (SPEI -Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index 2020), which, combined with high temperatures and reduced soil moisture, led to the largest forest re ever recorded in the area (Libonati et al. 2020). The National Institute for Space Research (INPE 2022) and ALARMES alert system reported that about 3.9 million hectares of the biome were affected by re in 2020, with more than 15.000 res registered, three times more than the previous year (Marques et al. 2021). ...
We conducted a study on the effects of fire on Rhamnidium elaeocarpum , a widely distributed woody species found in the Pantanal wetlands, using LC-MS metabolomics, total phenolic and tannin content analysis, and thermogravimetric behavior. We sampled individuals from four different groups and found that recent fires had no significant impact on the species' phenolic metabolism, except for those specimens whose aerial parts had died during the 2020 megafire, which showed a compound decline due to leaching. The high levels of phenolics in R. elaeocarpum suggest that the species has a biochemical tolerance to the stress caused by seasonal fires. Metabolomic profiling revealed the presence of proanthocyanidin oligomers, which protect against oxidative stress and post-fire environmental disturbances. However, the passage of fire also led to a high incidence of toxic karwinaphthopyranone derivatives, which could be a concern for the species' medicinal use. Finally, the thermogravimetric analysis showed that the species is thermotolerant, with an intrinsic relationship between the secondary compounds and thermotolerance. Our study enhances our understanding of the impact of fire on woody species' metabolism, although distinguishing whether chemical traits are an adaptive feature or a response to surrounding environmental factors is challenging.
Diagnosing climate variability and environmental change in floodable regions is essential for understanding and mitigating impacts on natural ecosystems. Our objective was to characterize environmental degradation in the Brazilian Pantanal by identifying changes in vegetation and water cover over a 30-year period using remote sensing techniques. We evaluated surface physical–hydric parameters, including Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) maps, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI), and precipitation data. There was a decrease in the area of water bodies (−9.9%), wetlands (−5.7%), and forest formation (−3.0%), accompanied by an increase in the area of pastureland (7.4%). The NDVI showed significant changes in vegetation cover (−069 to 0.81), while the MNDWI showed a decrease in water surface areas (−0.73 to 0.93) and the NDMI showed a continuous decrease in vegetation moisture (−0.53 to 1). Precipitation also decreased over the years, reaching a minimum of 595 mm. Vegetation indices and land use maps revealed significant changes in vegetation and loss of water bodies in the Pantanal, reinforcing the need for sustainable management, recovery of degraded areas, and promotion of ecotourism to balance environmental conservation and local development.
Protected Areas are widely recognized for their role in conserving biodiversity and contributing to human well-being. However, PAs are globally facing serious threats as societies and many politicians still see them as opportunity costs. In Brazil, PAs are increasingly exposed to biodiversity loss due to biophysical processes such as invasive species and fires, and political pressures, such as infrastructure development, agribusiness interests, and a lack of political commitment. In this article, we present a desk-based analysis to identify and quantify threats to Brazilian National Parks. Our results indicate that hunting, land-use conflicts and agriculture are still perceived as the main threats to the long-term integrity of Brazilian protected areas. Our analysis also reveals differing levels of vulnerability to threats across Brazilian biomes. Dealing with these threats will require a complex mixture of policy, management and monitoring actions. Desk-based analysis and multiple data sources can be useful tools for improving these actions.
Brazil, despite possessing the largest renewable freshwater reserves in the world (8.65 trillion m3 annually), faces growing challenges in water management due to increasing demand. Agriculture, responsible for 68.4% of water consumption, is one of the main drivers of this demand, especially in the São Francisco River Basin, where irrigation accounts for 81% of total water withdrawals. Water bodies play a crucial role in sustaining ecosystems and supporting life, particularly along the East-West axis of Alagoas, a water-rich region in the ENEB. This study aimed to map and quantify the spatiotemporal variations of water bodies in the ENEB region and assess the impacts of human activities using MODIS satellite data, applying hydrological indices such as NDWI, MNDWI, and AWEI. Between 2003 and 2022, significant variations in the extent of water bodies were observed, with reductions of up to 100 km2 during dry periods and expansions of up to 300 km2 during wet seasons compared to dry periods. AWEI and MNDWI proved to be the most effective indices for detecting water bodies with MODIS data, providing accurate insights into water dynamics. Additionally, the MapBiomas Rios dataset, despite being resampled from a 30 m to a 500 m resolution, offered the most accurate representation of water bodies due to its methodology for data acquisition. Changes in albedo and surface temperature were also detected, highlighting the influence of climate change on the region’s water resources. These findings are crucial for guiding the sustainable management of water resources, not only in Alagoas but also in other regions of Brazil and similar semi-arid areas around the world. The study demonstrates the hydrological variability in the state of Alagoas, indicating the need for adaptive strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic pressures, supporting the need for informed decision-making in water resource management at both local and national levels.
Problems caused by land-use change and climate change transcend territorial boundaries, but often management of natural heritage sites can only influence what happens within the local area. Therefore, we need innovative conservation strategies that also transcend territorial boundaries. Hence, the approach to managing our natural heritage sites may need innovative strategies to ensure their effective conservation. This study examines the conservation approach in the Pantanal biome, which houses multiple centers of decision-making across Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Despite the region’s significant contribution in providing ecosystem services and playing an integral part in local cultural heritage and Native communities, Pantanal has suffered from a lack of clear rules and strategies, challenges in implementation, and, largely, capacity and coordination across different governance scales. This contribution synthesizes key challenges and potential opportunities through co-production and information sharing to ensure a socio-ecological approach to promoting the conservation and resilience of the Pantanal biome.
The Pantanal, the Earth's largest continuous wetland, experienced severe impacts from wildfires in 2019 and, particularly, in 2020. The surge in wildfires can be attributed to several factors, including climate extremes, inadequate fire management, ineffective policymaking, as well as commercial and demographic dynamics. Understanding the economic effects of wildfires is crucial for guiding resource allocation toward prevention, firefighting efforts, and policymaking. This study aims to examine the economic losses resulting from the catastrophic wildfires in the Brazilian Pantanal region during 2019 and 2020. By utilizing new publicly available datasets and data obtained from representatives of institutions, we constructed scenarios to simulate the fire's impacts on the economic input-output system. Through the application of structural impact analysis, we were able to verify an impact in MS GDP of -0.79% and MT had an impact of -0.98% resulting from fire damages. The industries impacted most were livestock, wholesale and retail trade, electricity, gas, and other utilities, agriculture, other food products, land transportation, and slaughtering and meat products. The impact of fire per square kilometer burned reaches 10 thousand dollars in MS. Our findings reveal that the economic impact of the wildfires extends beyond the burned areas, affecting other states of Brazil, such as São Paulo and Paraná.
The 2020 environmental catastrophe in Pantanal has highlighted the fragility of environmental policies and practices for managing and fighting fires in this biome. Therefore, it is essential to know the causes and circumstances that potentiate these fires. This study aimed to: (I) assess the relationship between fire foci and carbon absorption (GPP), precipitation, and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) flux; (ii) analyze vegetation recovery using the differenced normalized burn ratio (ΔNBR) in Brazilian Pantanal between 2001 and 2022; and (iii) identify priority areas, where the highest intensities of fire foci have occurred, in order to guide public policies in Brazil to maintain local conservation. To this purpose, fire foci were detected using data from the MODIS MOD14/MYD14 algorithm, annual precipitation with CHIRPS (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data), and CO 2 flux using the MODIS/MODO9A1 product, and Gross Primary Production (GPP) with the MODIS/MOD17A2 product. The severity of the burned area was also assessed using the ΔNBR index and the risk areas were determined using the averages of these images. During the time series studied, a total of 300,127 fire foci were detected throughout the Pantanal, where 2020 had the highest number of foci and the lowest accumulated precipitation. The years with the highest precipitation were 2014 and 2018. The year 2018 was also the second year with the highest GPP value. The Pettit test showed a trend for 2008 and 2011 as the points of change in the CO 2 flux and GPP variables. Principal component analysis clustered fire foci and precipitation on opposite sides, as well as GPP and CO 2 flux, while ΔNBR clustered HS, MHS and MLS classes with the years 2020, 2019, 2002 and 2021. There was a high negative correlation between fire foci × rainfall and GPP × CO 2 flux. The years with the largest areas of High severity (HS), Moderate-high severity (MHS) and Moderate-low severity (MLS) classes were 2020 and 2019, respectively. The most vulnerable areas for severe fires were the municipalities of Cáceres, Poconé, and Corumbá. The major fire catastrophe in 2020 is correlated with the low precipitation in 2019, the high precipitation in 2018, and the increased GPP, as well government policies unfavorable to the environment.
The ecological effect on the functional diversity of migrant birds in Neotropical habitats is poorly understood. So, the aim of this study is to investigate functional diversity differences of resident and migratory bird species. Hence, we assess trait space occupancy differences in resident and migrant bird species across three Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) state habitats. Using the MS bird checklist and literature data, we categorized migratory species into three groups based on their habitat associations: aquatic, forest, and non-forest. We utilized 26 functional traits, grouped into three categories (morphological traits, diet composition, and foraging forest stratum preference), to assess the functional diversity in habitat dependency groups. Calculating functional richness and functional dispersion for each habitat dependency group, along with the functional beta diversity between resident and migratory species, we found that migratory birds add new traits to aquatic groups, showing high functional turnover. Conversely, the forest and non-forest groups showed greater nestedness, indicating greater functional redundancy between migratory and resident species in these habitats. Migratory and resident groups exhibited higher overlap in functional volume in forest and non-forest habitats but show minimal overlap in aquatic habitats. This suggests that the effect of migratory species should be higher in aquatic habitats of MS because they add considerable variation in functional traits, which do not exist in the resident species. In conclusion, our study underscores the importance of preserving MS wetlands, particularly the Pantanal and the upper Paraná River floodplains, for the conservation of aquatic migratory species and their ecological role.
Objective: Study carried out in the Padre Josimo Tavares settlement project, located in the Brazilian Amazon, to portray the social reality, productivity and agricultural spatial distribution, as well as its implications for the preservation of the Amazon biome. Theoretical framework: The developmental measures adopted in the Amazon region, which include the creation of numerous settlement projects, did not consider the need to conserve natural resources. Currently, it is necessary to boost agricultural productivity combined with strategies that contribute to plant recovery and curb deforestation. Method: Data were collected in the field, and also spatial data were obtained, which were synthesized and analyzed using spatial, statistical and multicriteria analysis to verify the distribution and environmental suitability of agricultural activities. Results and conclusion: The settlers grow various plant products and most of them produce species strongly adapted to the region, which offers a productive advantage. Beef cattle farming is widely practiced; however, it is widely identified as the main cause of deforestation in the Amazon biome. To overcome this environmental obstacle, the recommended and discussed approaches were the implementation of agroforestry systems and zero deforestation commitment policies. Research implications: Knowing the socioeconomic and environmental reality of settlement projects is essential to identify strategies that increase, in an integrated manner, social, economic and environmental sustainability. Originality/value: Use of unpublished data obtained through field collections of the RADIS-UFV Project, the result of a partnership between the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform and the Federal University of Viçosa.
The Pantanal biome—a tropical wetland area—has been suffering a prolonged drought that started in 2019 and peaked in 2020. This favored the occurrence of natural disasters and led to the 2020 Pantanal fire crisis. The purpose of this work was to map the burned area’s extent during this crisis in the Brazilian portion of the Pantanal biome using Sentinel-2 MSI images. The classification of the burned areas was performed using a machine learning algorithm (Random Forest) in the Google Earth Engine platform. Input variables in the algorithm were the percentiles 10, 25, 50, 75, and 90 of monthly (July to December) mosaics of the shade fraction, NDVI, and NBR images derived from Sentinel-2 MSI images. The results showed an overall accuracy of 95.9% and an estimate of 44,998 km2 burned in the Brazilian portion of the Pantanal, which resulted in severe ecosystem destruction and biodiversity loss in this biome. The burned area estimated in this work was higher than those estimated by the MCD64A1 (35,837 km2), Fire_cci (36,017 km2), GABAM (14,307 km2), and MapBiomas Fogo (23,372 km2) burned area products, which presented lower accuracies. These differences can be explained by the distinct datasets and methods used to obtain those estimates. The proposed approach based on Sentinel-2 images can potentially refine the burned area’s estimation at a regional scale and, consequently, improve the estimate of trace gases and aerosols associated with biomass burning, where global biomass burning inventories are widely known for having biases at a regional scale. Our study brings to light the necessity of developing approaches that aim to improve data and theory about the impacts of fire in regions critically sensitive to climate change, such as the Pantanal, in order to improve Earth systems models that forecast wetland–atmosphere interactions, and the role of these fires on current and future climate change over these regions.
Remote sensing has been shown an important technique in the identification of burned areas. However, satellite images are strongly influenced by atmosphere components and variations of illumination, which must be corrected in some applications. In this paper, we assessed the influence of image radiometric corrections in burned area detection. We downloaded Level-1 and Level-2 products from Operational Land Imager (OLI), onboard Landsat 8 satellite, taken before and after fire events occurred in Pantanal (Brazil). Three methods of radiometric correction were applied: radiometric calibration, atmospheric correction by using ACOLITE, and radiometric normalization. The Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) spectral index was applied in images derived after each correction and Level-2 product to detect burned areas. The results were compared with fire data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Level-2 images presented better-burned area detection than those derived from other methods of radiometric correction.
Biodiversity loss not only implies the loss of species but also entails losses in other dimensions of biodiversity, such as functional, phylogenetic and interaction diversity. Yet, each of those facets of biodiversity may respond differently to extinctions. Here, we examine how extinction, driven by climate and land‐use changes may affect those different facets of diversity by combining empirical data on anuran–prey interaction networks, species distribution modelling and extinction simulations in assemblages representing four Neotropical ecoregions. We found a mismatch in the response of functional, phylogenetic and interaction diversity to extinction. In spite of high network robustness to extinction, the effects on interaction diversity were stronger than those on phylogenetic and functional diversity, declining linearly with species loss. Although it is often assumed that interaction patterns are reflected by functional diversity, assessing species interactions may be necessary to understand how species loss translates into the loss of ecosystem functions.
Prescribed burning (PB), the planned and controlled application of fire is a well-established tool for biodiversity conservation in a plethora of habitats globally. In European grasslands that are threatened hotspots of biodiversity, PB has the potential to address challenges related to several threats such as abandonment, climate change or invasive species. However, its potential is seldom realized both in experimental and real-world conditions. To increase the potential of PB in the management of European grasslands, we suggest adapting the fire regime concept in future studies and to determine optimal PB regimes based on experimental approaches, paleo-data and the disappearing traditional ecological knowledge. For the evidence-based evaluation of PB applicability, a decision support framework is suggested.
The Pantanal region in South America is one of the world's largest wetlands. Since 2019, the Pantanal has suffered a prolonged drought that has spelled disaster for the region, and subsequent fires have engulfed hundreds of thousands of hectares. The lack of rainfall during the summers of 2019 and 2020 was caused by reduced transport of warm and humid summer air from Amazonia into the Pantanal. Instead, a predominance of warmer and drier air masses from subtropical latitudes contributed to a scarcity of summer rainfall at the peak of the monsoon season. This led to prolonged extreme drought conditions across the region. This drought had severe impacts on the hydrology of the Pantanal. Hydrometric levels fell all along the Paraguay River. In 2020, river levels reached extremely low values, and in some sections of this river, transportation had to be restricted. Very low river levels affected the mobility of people and shipping of soybeans and minerals to the Atlantic Ocean by the Hidrovia -Paraná-Paraguai (Paraná-Paraguay Waterway). This study is directed to better understand the hydroclimatic aspects of the current drought in the Brazilian Pantanal and their impacts on natural and human systems. As a consequence of the drought, fires spread and affected natural biodiversity as well as the agribusiness and cattle ranching sectors. While fires had serious socioecological and economic consequences, we do not intend to investigate the effect of the downstream low-level waters on the Pantanal ecosystems or the drought in the risk of fire.
Rapid urbanization is changing landscapes often resulting in the degradation of ecosystem services and quality of urban life. Remote sensing and GIS tools can provide valuable information to deepen our understanding of the dynamics of these changes to better plan and build sustainable cities for the future. Using remote sensing data, socio-economic data, and field observations, we simulated spatiotemporal dynamics of land use and land cover changes in the city of Thimphu. Simulation results reveal that the landscape of Thimphu city has changed considerably during the study period and the change trend is predicted to continue into 2050. The study observed a significant increase (12.77%) in built-up area from 2002 (52.88%) to 2018 (65.5%), followed by a slight increase in the cover of bare ground. On the contrary, forest cover declined drastically (15.25%) followed by agriculture (1.01%). Rapid population growth triggered by rural urban migration coupled with hasty socio-economic development post democracy are the main drivers of these changes. These changes have fragmentated forest cover, increased soil/gully erosion, surface runoff, and storm induced floods of storm and sanitation drains, thereby impinging on the overall quality of life in the city. Under the business as usual scenario, prediction analysis for the year 2050 show that built up area will consume almost all of the city area (73.21%) with forest significantly reduced to patches making up only about 16% of the city. These findings beg for an urgent need to implement effective planning specially to protect the existing forest and water resources from further degradation.
Climate extremes, poor management and lax laws are making this World Heritage Site prone to fierce fires. Researchers and governments must develop a plan to manage these risks together.
The dynamics of Pantanal is totally influenced by the flood pulse, which is, in part, a consequence of rainfall regime from the Amazon in the direction to the headlands and the lowlands where the water is retained, and the flood plain is formed. The impacts of climate change have not yet been measured for the Northern Pantanal (Pantanal of Cáceres), where it is the gateway to most Pantanal waters. Here, we have used rainfall, hydrology, and satellite imagery data to ascertain the possible rainfall patterns, water retention, and level of the Paraguay River over the past decades. Although a well-defined water pulse is found in the Northern Pantanal, over a 42-year historical series the number of days without precipitation has greatly increased, as well the loss of water mass in the landscape over the last 10 years specifically in during the drought season. Overall, nowadays the Northern Pantanal has 13% more days without rain than in the 60’s, and the water mass is 16% less during the drought season considering the last 10 years. These results show that nowadays the Pantanal is losing water and experiencing a more severe drought season than in the past. Regarding the physicochemical and biological cycles of the ecosystem, these changes can result in the loss of biodiversity, as well as the loss of ecosystem services, intrinsically linked to the flood pulse. Given that these losses have been aggravated by anthropogenic pressures (e.g. deforestation, erosion, hydroelectric power stations), the drafting of strategic plans for safeguarding wildlife and human populations, as well as agriculture, cattle raising, fisheries and the preservation of the people’s lifestyle in the Pantanal must be urgently implemented.
Building bridges between environmental and political agendas is essential nowadays in face of the increasing human pressure
on natural environments, including wetlands. Wetlands provide critical ecosystem services for humanity and can generate a
considerable direct or indirect income to the local communities. To meet many of the sustainable development goals, we
need to move our trajectory from the current environmental destructive development to a wiser wetland use. The current
article contain a proposed agenda for the Pantanal aiming the improvement of public policy for conservation in the Pantanal,
one of the largest, most diverse, and continuous inland wetland in the world. We suggest and discuss a list of 11 essential
interfaces between science, policy, and development in region linked to the proposed agenda. We believe that a functional
science network can booster the collaborative capability to generate creative ideas and solutions to address the big
challenges faced by the Pantanal wetland
Fire has been part of the natural environment of south-eastern Australia for tens of millions of years. Aboriginal people used fire selectively, with skill, for many reasons. The removal of Aboriginal people from most of the region after European settlement changed fire regimes and the composition and structure of vegetation. This study explores the history of fire in south-eastern Australia, describes the development of prescribed burning as a forest management tool, and discusses the factors that have influenced changes in fire regimes. It draws on published and unpublished literature and data held by the Forest Fire Management Committee of the Institute of Foresters of Australia. The study finds that the use of prescribed burning in south-eastern Australia in the past 100 years has been driven primarily by political and legal factors. Since 1939, more than 50 public inquiries, reviews and royal commissions have been held into matters concerning the management of fire in landscapes, including prescribed burning. Prescribed burning has been used for wildfire mitigation, agricultural practices (such as stubble reduction and grazing land management), property protection, the maintenance of ecological processes and biodiversity conservation. Prescribed burning in the region has only ever been practised on a small percentage of forest and land each year.
The study finds that a substantial body of fire and ecosystem science has been generated in the past 50 years, with rapid technological developments to support prescribed burning and fire management. Research has provided tools and methods for broadscale prescribed burning, but negative public perceptions of fire have prevented the deployment of comprehensive fire management programs in the region. Although much has been achieved, considerable changes are still required in fire management for it to be sustainable and optimal in protecting economic, social and environmental values. The risks to human lives, property, biodiversity and the environment associated with wildfire are increasing in south-eastern Australia due to climate change, and the wider use of prescribed burning is essential for managing these. The increasing extent and occurrence of wildfire disasters in the region indicates that current fire management will not sustain the full range of ecosystem processes and biodiversity, nor reduce to an acceptable level the impact of wildfires on human lives and property. There is compelling evidence for the greater use of prescribed burning to reduce wildfire risks and impacts, rather than committing increasing resources to wildfire suppression. The potential negative impacts of prescribed burning can be managed effectively using existing knowledge and tools. Clear communication of the benefits of prescribed burning can influence political and public opinion in its favour. More investment in training, human capacity and supporting resources is required to safely and effectively deploy prescribed burning more widely to reduce future wildfire risks.
Climate change poses a critical threat to the Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world. Models indicate an increase in the frequency of extreme precipitation events and extended periods of drought. These changes can amplify consequences for Pantanal’s ecological functioning, which has already experienced intensive human modification of its hydrological system and environmental health. The present study analyzed the spatial and temporal dynamics of rainfall and resulting extremes in the Brazilian area of the Upper Paraguay River Basin (UPRB) along with a co-evaluation of the global Sea Surface Temperature data (SST). The predicted results indicate that wet extreme precipitation events will become more frequent in the highlands, while severe and prolonged droughts triggered by warming SSTs in the Northern Hemisphere (North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans) will affect the Pantanal. The linear relations between precipitation with SST of very specific oceanic regions and even from specific oceanic indexes obtained in the present study significantly improve the forecasting capacity, mainly from a resulting reduction to two months of the lead-time between SST warming to concomitant precipitation impacts, and by explaining 80% of Pantanal´s precipitation variation from major oceanic indexes (e.g., ENSO, PDO, NAO, ATL3). Current SST trends will result in inter- and intra-annual flooding dynamic alterations, drastically affecting the Pantanal ecosystem functioning, with consequences for wildlife diversity and distribution. Regarding the foreseeable global climate and land use change scenarios, the results from the present study provide solid evidence that can be used at different decision-making levels (from local to global) for identifying the most appropriate management practices and effectively achieving sustainability of the anthropic activity occurring in the Pantanal.
Modeling scenarios can help identify drivers of and potential changes in land use, particularly in rapidly changing landscapes such as the tropics. One of the places where most of the recent anthropogenic land use changes have been occurring is the "arc of deforestation" of the Amazon, where several scenarios have been constructed. Such modeling scenarios, however, have been implemented less frequently in wetland areas, but these are also undergoing rapid change. An example is the Pantanal, one of the largest wetlands on the planet located in the Upper Paraguay River Basin (UPRB). The UPRB is formed by the lowland (Pantanal) and the plateau (Cerrado and Amazon where the spring-fed rivers are). We used a spatially explicit model to identify drivers of vegetation loss in the Pantanal and surrounding area (UPRB) and estimated potential vegetation loss for the next 30 years. The model is probabilistic and considers that vegetation loss is contagious, so that the local rate of deforestation increases over time if adjacent sites are deforested, also taking into account the drivers identified in those locations. Our study is the first to simulate vegetation loss at property-scale, over 20,000 properties, for the entire UPRB in Brazil, taking into account the relationship between the plateau, where headwaters are located, and the lowland, where flooded-areas are concentrated. The drivers of vegetation loss identified for the lowland (distance to roads and rivers and elevation) differed from those for the plateau (distance to cities), demonstrating the relevance of analyzing areas separately. The cumulative rate of native vegetation loss projected for 2050 was 3% for the lowland and 10% for the plateau, representing losses of 6045 km 2 and of native vegetation area decreasing from 87% to 83% and 7960 km 2 from 39% to 35% respectively by 2050, if changes continue at the same pace and if the environmental legislation is followed. The projected vegetation loss in the UPRB forms a geographical arc, very similar to that observed in the Amazon, from the plateau into the lowland. The arc is directly related to areas with no or low flooding frequency because they are suitable for agriculture. The identification of this arc of vegetation loss calls for urgent conservation policies for this wetland and new perspectives for management.
The Pantanal is a wetland located in the central region of South America (150,355 km2), mainly in Brazil (nearly 140,000 km2), touching Paraguay and Bolivia. The floodplain is fed by the Paraguay River and its tributaries, where the headwater of the rivers is located on the surrounding upland. Only 40% of this plateau retains its natural vegetation. Although the natural habitats of the Pantanal are still considered well preserved, retaining 80% of the vegetation cover, the biome faces environmental and socioeconomic threats that affect its biodiversity. The seasonal flux of the rivers is a fundamental ecological element for regional biodiversity. Habitat alteration and deforestation have affected terrestrial and aquatic habitats and their associated wildlife. This work identifies and analyses the threats to biodiversity considering land use, based on research experience in the region plus field work. Based on this, it discusses a strategic action plan for the biome’s biodiversity.
Building bridges between environmental and political agendas is essential nowadays in face of the increasing human pressure on natural environments, including wetlands. Wetlands provide critical ecosystem services for humanity and can generate a considerable direct or indirect income to the local communities. To meet many of the sustainable development goals, we need to move our trajectory from the current environmental destructive development to a wiser wetland use. The current article contain a proposed agenda for the Pantanal aiming the improvement of public policy for conservation in the Pantanal, one of the largest, most diverse, and continuous inland wetland in the world. We suggest and discuss a list of 11 essential interfaces between science, policy, and development in region linked to the proposed agenda. We believe that a functional science network can booster the collaborative capability to generate creative ideas and solutions to address the big challenges faced by the Pantanal wetland.
Building bridges between environmental and political agendas is
essential nowadays in face of the increasing human pressure on natural
environments, including wetlands. Wetlands provide critical ecosystem
services for humanity, and can generate a considerable direct or indirect
income to the local communities. In order to meet many of the
sustainable development goals, we need to move our trajectory from the
current environmental destructive development to a wiser wetland use.
The current paper contain a proposed agenda for the Pantanal aiming
the improvement of public policy for conservation in the Pantanal, one of
the largest, most diverse, and continuous inland wetland in the world.
We suggest and discuss a list of 10 essential interfaces between science,
policy, and development in region linked to the proposed agenda. We
believe that a functional science network can booster the collaborative
capability to generate creative ideas and solutions to address the big
challenges faced by the Pantanal wetland.
The Earth Trends Modeler (ETM) is an earth observation software tool that allows for modeling environmental changes and trend analyses of earth observation data. We used Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS)-Normalized Difference Vegetation Index-3rd generation (NDVI3g) and Climatic Research Unit Time Series (CRU-TS) for climate data. We applied Mann-Kendall Monotonic Trend (MKMT) test using the ETM for changing trend analyses, correlation and multiple regression for analyzing relationship between vegetation greenness and climate factors. These methods are effective approaches for conducting long-term monitoring and correlation analyses in broad area using satellite data. These methods were used to analyze the long term data, but mostly focused on national scale study. Our study expanded the methodological applicability over the whole Asia during the last 33 years. In addition, we used spatio-temporal data such as vegetation greenness, rainfall, temperature, and potential evapotranspiration in order to estimate changing trends and relationship analysis of vegetation greenness and climate factors. • MKMT test was an applicable method for broad area and analyzed the increasing or decreasing trends using time series dataset with a predetermined level of significance. • The correlation and regression analysis were suitable and useful methods to estimate spatial relationships between vegetation greenness and climate factors in the long term period. Method name: Application of Earth Trend Modeler (ETM) for long term spatio-temporal data analysis, Keywords: Mann-Kendall monotonic trend test, Spatio-temporal analysis, Earth trend modeler, Changing trend analysis, Relationship analysis
The Pantanal is the world's largest freshwater wetland, located in the geographical centre of South America. It is relatively well conserved, and features unique landscapes, ecosystems, and traditional cultural practices, shaped by the dynamic interaction of climatological, hydrological, geological, ecological, and anthropogenic factors. Its ecological integrity is increasingly threatened by human activities, particularly, in the wider catchment area, for example, deforestation, agricultural intensification, and construction of hydropower plants, with implications for local people's livelihoods. We present a synthesis of current literature on physical, ecological, and human dimensions of environmental change in the wetland, outline key research gaps, and discuss environmental management implications. The literature review suggests that better integration of insights from multiple disciplines is needed and that environmental management could be improved through a better grounding in traditional practices and local perspectives. We conclude with four recommendations: First, future environmental change research should build more strongly on the positive example of a small number of case studies where traditional and local knowledge of the environment was put into a dialogue with scientific knowledge and techniques. Second, we recommend a more explicit consideration of longer temporal scales (>10 years) in environmental change research, making use of oral and written histories, as well as palaeoecological techniques, to understand system responses to different magnitudes of human and climatic pressures, and ultimately, to inform future adaptation activities. Third, we suggest that enhanced stakeholder participation in conceiving and implementing research projects in the Pantanal would strengthen the practical relevance of research in addressing environmental management challenges, livelihood needs, and advocacy processes. Fourth, we call for a more systemic and integrative perspective on environmental education, which encompasses engagement activities between researchers, policy-makers, and citizens, to foster environmental awareness, scientific literacy, and public participation.
Tropical woody plants store ∼230 petagrams of carbon (PgC) in their aboveground living biomass. This review suggests that these stocks are currently growing in primary forests at rates that have decreased in recent decades. Droughts are an important mechanism in reducing forest C uptake and stocks by decreasing photosynthesis, elevating tree mortality, increasing autotrophic respiration, and promoting wildfires. Tropical forests were a C source to the atmosphere during the 2015–2016 El Niño–related drought, with some estimates suggesting that up to 2.3 PgC were released. With continued climate change, the intensity and frequency of droughts and fires will likely increase. It is unclear at what point the impacts of severe, repeated disturbances by drought and fires could exceed tropical forests’ capacity to recover. Although specific threshold conditions beyond which ecosystem properties could lead to alternative stable states are largely unknown, the growing body of scientific evidence points to such threshold conditions becoming more likely as climate and land use change across the tropics. ▪ Droughts have reduced forest carbon uptake and stocks by elevating tree mortality, increasing autotrophic respiration, and promoting wildfires. ▪ Threshold conditions beyond which tropical forests are pushed into alternative stable states are becoming more likely as effects of droughts intensify.
Water storage in a drainage basin determines its hydric security. The quantity of water retained in the watershed can be measured by means of the water balance calculation. This balance can be defined by the input of water subtracted from the outputs. However, for the Pantanal, the measurements of water inlet and outlet are expensive, which makes the use of remote sensing data a high impact tool with sharp socioeconomic advantages. Studies of water availability with orbital sensors are relatively scarce in the Upper Paraguay Basin (BAP). Thus, this work is an attempt to estimate the BAP water balance using rainfall and evapotranspiration remote sensing data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the MODIS Global Evapotranspiration Project (MOD16), respectively. For that purpose, a ModelBuilder tool was developed in ArcGIS 10. The results indicate that BAP has an annual surplus of water between 2000 and 2014, but water parameters seem weakly correlated at annual basis. However, there may be atmospheric-climatic phenomena that maximize the correlation between the hydrological parameters and the temperature anomaly with delays of 2 to 5 years, suggesting lagged teleconnections with QBO and ENSO.
The Pantanal is the most conserved biome in Brazil and among the last wild refuges in South America, but intensification of agriculture and other land use changes present challenges for protecting this exceptionally biodiverse wetland ecosystem. Recent studies have shed new light on the origins and biogeochemistry of a suite of >600 small saline-alkaline lakes in Nhecolândia, a floodplain setting located south of the Taquari River in south-central Pantanal. These soda lakes form a unique aquatic environment in Pantanal and nascent research on their geomicrobiology suggests that their biota may be analogous to early life, and extreme life in Earth's deep biosphere. We argue that the conservation of the soda lakes in the lower Nhecolândia region should be an important strategic component of any conservation plan that aims to mitigate the advance of unsustainable land-use change in the Pantanal. Soda lake conservation has important implications for the carbon cycle, as these landforms sequester carbon dioxide and transmit considerably lower concentrations of methane in comparison to macrophyte-rich freshwater lakes in the region. Further, minerals precipitated in the saline-alkaline lakes are leveraged for cattle consumption, and therefore the continued presence of the lakes is critical for allowing pantaneiro ranchers to pursue certified organic, sustainable beef production systems. Beyond protecting soda lakes and their surrounding forests (mata de cordilheiras) for food systems security, the conservation strategy would also allow further research of little studied extremophile biodiversity and biogeochemistry, with potential for biotechnological innovations attendant to UN Sustainable Development Goals. © 2018 Associação Brasileira de Ciência Ecológica e Conservação
The study of land use/land cover (LULC) has become an increasingly important stage in the development of forest ecosystems strategies. Hence, the main goal of this study was to describe the vegetation change of Azrou Forest in the Middle Atlas, Morocco, between 1987 and 2017. To achieve this, a set of Landsat images, including one Multispectral Scanner (MSS) scene from 1987; one Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) scene from 2000; two Thematic Mapper (TM) scenes from 1995 and 2011; and one Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) scene from 2017; were acquired and processed. Ground-based survey data and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were used to identify and to improve the discrimination between LULC categories. Then, the maximum likelihood (ML) classification method was applied was applied, in order to produce land cover maps for each year. Three classes were considered by the classification of NDVI value: low-density vegetation; moderate-density vegetation, and high-density vegetation. Our study achieved classification accuracies of 66.8% (1987), 99.9% (1995), 99.8% (2000), 99.9% (2011), and 99.9% (2017). The results from the Landsat-based image analysis show that the area of low-density vegetation was decreased from 27.4% to 2.1% over the past 30 years. While, in 2017, the class of high-density vegetation was increased to 64.6% of the total area of study area. The results of this study show that the total forest cover remained stable. The present study highlights the importance of the image classification algorithms combined with NDVI index for better understanding the changes that have occurred in this forest. Therefore, the findings of this study could assist planners and decision-makers to guide, in a good manner, the sustainable land development of areas with similar backgrounds.
Soil phosphatase is a biochemical indicator of soil quality, and its activity plays a key role in the productivity of terrestrial ecosystems. Modeling the kinetic parameters of soil phosphatase is central to integrate ecological processes in tropical soils under di erent land use ecosystems. The goal of this study was to determine the kinetic ff parameters of soil acid phosphatase (AP soil) and assess the relationship between its kinetic parameters and soil quality indicators in two topsoil layers (at the 0 5 and 5 10 cm depths) from an Oxisol under the native Cerrado,-pine, soya and sugarcane ecosystems. AP soil activity was assessed with di erent substrate concentrations (0, ff 0.75, 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6, 12 and 18 mmol L −1 of p-nitrophenol phosphate in bu er) at 37 °C, pH 6.5 and acetate ff bu er. The kinetic parameters (K ff m and V max) were estimated using the Michaelis-Menten (M-M) and Eadie-Hofstee (E-H) equations. Soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), soil microbial respiration (SMR), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN), and dehydrogenase activity (DHA) were also measured. In both models, the highest V max and K m values were found in native Cerrado soil, followed by pine soil in two surface layers. Soya and sugarcane soils presented low K m values, showing a great substrate a nity of soil ffi phosphatase in these ecosystems. The MM model estimated higher V max and K m values than the E-H model. The MM model did not show any di erence in K ff m between the two layers of ecosystems, but the E-H model revealed signi cant di erences between the layers with the lowest K fi ff m values at the 5 10 cm depth. The results revealed-that K m has a signi cant correlation with SOC (r = 0.71), TN (r = 0.72), MBC (r = 0.75) and MBN (r = 0.75). fi The results also showed a greater correlation between the K m of the E-H model and soil quality indicators than the MM model. Our study shows the importance of modeling the AP soil in the Brazilian Cerrado in relation to land use ecosystems, depths and the model applied.
The Brazilian Pantanal wetland undergoes landscape alterations that can cause impacts on hydrological processes, changing the flood pulse. The objective of this work is to analyse the vegetation cover of the Pantanal in the period of 2000, 2008 and 2015, and to make a projection for 2030. Therefore, NDVI from the sensor MODIS was analysed and the transition matrix was calculated by the DINAMICA EGO. The methods adopted were open sources. The results were worrisome, indicating alterations of the vegetation cover of the Pantanal, with an increase of short vegetation (grasslands or pastures) in the evaluated period. The projection pointed out that in 2030 the Brazilian Pantanal wetland area will be covered by 78% of short vegetation and only 14% of dense (arboreal-shrubby) vegetation. The approach can be a useful tool for conservation of the Brazilian Pantanal wetland.
Resumo O estudo avaliou a ocorrência de focos de calor nos remanescentes da Mata Atlântica no estado do Rio de Janeiro, sob o aspecto climático. As informações obtidas da base de dados BDQueimadas, do período de junho de 1998 a dezembro de 2015, sofreram estatística descritiva, exploratória e paramétrica. As maiores ocorrências de focos de calor foram registradas nos meses de agosto, setembro e outubro e, os anos com os maiores registros foram nos ciclos 2010/2011 (16,06%) e 2014/2015 (41, 24%), ambos somaram 57,30% da série temporal, referente a La Niña e El Niño nas categorias forte e fraco. O teste paramétrico mostrou uma repetição dos meses de abril e junho nos anos avaliados na série temporal de focos de calor. As regiões de Governo Centro-Sul Fluminense e Médio Paraíba registraram os maiores registros de focos de calor, segundo a avaliação espacial. Nossos resultados demonstram que o acesso a uma base gratuita de dados permite a prevenção de danos causados pelas queimadas e incêndios. Com a evolução dos sensores de temperatura e de algoritmos de tratamento de dados, será possível diferenciar os focos de calor que representam incêndios e queimadas daqueles que indicam, por exemplo, atividade de indústrias.