SPATIAL ASSESSMENT OF LAND USE CHANGE PATTERNS AND THEIR IMPACT ON WILDLIFE HABITAT IN TROPICAL FORESTS

Miriam Anděla Zemanová

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Habitat loss and fragmentation, caused by deforestation, are considered major threats to biodiversity. In Bolivian tropical forests, different deforestation patterns have evolved due to diverse economic and social drivers. This study aimed to provide a better understanding of the impact of these patterns on habitat fragmentation and connectivity. Classified Landsat imagery was used for the period 1975-2005. Five separate study areas were determined based on their land use history and fragmentation patterns. Vegetation spatial structure was assessed with selected landscape metrics. Since fragmentation impacts differ among species, an emblematic species, jaguar (Panthera onca), was selected as a model organism to determine landscape connectivity. The analyses showed a decrease in the amount of natural vegetation and changes in its spatial distribution, with significant alterations for most landscapes in 1991. Connectivity for jaguar declined radically after the year 1991 in all study areas. Although the amount of natural vegetation in 2000 was on average > 35 % in most of the study areas, connectivity values were extremely low (< 0.2). Landscape metrics effectively depicted habitat fragmentation within and among the study areas, but they were not able to fully explain its impact on wildlife habitat. Conservation plans need to incorporate connectivity analyses for multiple species, while combining patch structure and function to study functional connectivity of the landscape.

Abstract:

Habitat loss and fragmentation, caused by deforestation, are considered major threats to biodiversity. In Bolivian tropical forests, different deforestation patterns have evolved due to diverse economic and social drivers. This study aimed to provide a better understanding of the impact of these patterns on habitat fragmentation and connectivity. Classified Landsat imagery was used for the period 1975-2005. Five separate study areas were determined based on their land use history and fragmentation patterns. Vegetation spatial structure was assessed with selected landscape metrics. Since fragmentation impacts differ among species, an emblematic species, jaguar (Panthera onca), was selected as a model organism to determine landscape connectivity. The analyses showed a decrease in the amount of natural vegetation and changes in its spatial distribution, with significant alterations for most landscapes in 1991. Connectivity for jaguar declined radically after the year 1991 in all study areas. Although the amount of natural vegetation in 2000 was on average > 35 % in most of the study areas, connectivity values were extremely low (< 0.2). Landscape metrics effectively depicted habitat fragmentation within and among the study areas, but they were not able to fully explain its impact on wildlife habitat. Conservation plans need to incorporate connectivity analyses for multiple species, while combining patch structure and function to study functional connectivity of the landscape.

Keywords

fragmentace krajiny, Bolivie, odlesňování

Keywords

habitat fragmentation, deforestation, Bolivian lowlands, landscape metrics, connectivity

Language used: Czech

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 19. 4. 2011

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: doc. Ing. Miroslav Svoboda, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences

Master programme:
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