Mudanças na distribuição biogeográfica e relações com alterações no habitat

Abstract

The watershed of the Mão Curta River is inserted in the Atlantic Forest biome, this rich in biodiversity, but at the regional level has been hampered by several factors as the intensive use of pesticides, the removal of native forest, hunting practices, agriculture without proper management, among others. These problems affect the local fauna and the natural resources, that their appropriate storage conditions are important for the biota survival. In this sense, this paper aims to investigate the causes of the disappearance of large animals species in the watershed Mão Curta River, in the municipality of Sananduva-RS. The methodoly included field activities and remote sensing data integrated into a Geographic Information System to perform thematic mapping of the area to identify the shape of ecological fragments and corridors. Interviews were conducted with residents beyond the application of biogeographical techniques in the field of activity. Theories and methods biogeographics and Landscape Ecology were basis for analysis of the factors that are related to possible losses of habitat features, as well as population decrease of the investigated species and to assess the current status of biodiversity. The results obtained through field and interviews at the Mão Curta River watershed showed that the changes in the use and land cover over time are important distributional factors related to habitat. The main species of animals large suffer the consequences of human action due to destruction of their habitat, reduction of food among other influences. The fragments and corridors mapping analysis showed that there is a high degree of fragmentation of forest areas and the poor connectivity between fragments and those with drainage, which is indicative of scarcity of natural resources and limiting conditions for development some species. From this research it was possible to understand that factors such as deforestation, agricultural occupation, decreased access to drainage, hunting practices and the use of pesticides influence the biogeographical distribution of species belonging to animals large in the study area. The mapping generated in this study has high spatial resolution and is available in a GIS (Geographic Information System) for continued environmental monitoring. The results contribute to the planning of environmental conservation actions in the study area.