Planning and implementing ecological corridors in the southeast Atlantic Forest: Challenges and opportunities.

Designing ecological corridors studies are much more common than studies that evaluate the effectiveness and practicality of implementation. Thus, this study aimed to identify and discuss factors that can influence the implementation of ecological corridors designed from a multicriteria analysis. For this purpose, the ecological corridor implementation efforts of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in an Atlantic Forest region were evaluated.

The relationship between forest fire and deforestation in the southeast Atlantic rainforest.

Given the scarcity of studies relating fire to deforestation in the Atlantic Forest and great economic and ecological importances of this biome, this work aimed to investigate this relationship in the Atlantic Forest of the State of São Paulo, trying to answer whether deforestation is related to fire events in up to three years, if there are regions most affected by this relationship and what land use and land cover predominates after fire and deforestation in these areas. The study was carried out in Evergreen Forest and Semideciduous Seasonal, along the time series from 2000 to 2019 using the MapBiomas Project database to survey deforested and burned sites with moderate to high severity fires. Burning positively influenced deforestation in EGF in eight of 19 years studied (2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009, 2013 and 2015), while only for three years in the SSF.

Relationship between Payment for Ecosystem Services Programs and Disasters in Southeast Atlantic Forest region, Brazil.

Ecosystem services significantly contribute to ecosystems resilience and stability. In this sense, payment for ecosystem services can be designed and applied to prevent or decrease environmental disaster risks. This study aimed at verifying whether municipalities taking part in PES programs present higher number of natural disasters (flood, drought, landslide and fire) between 2009 and 2020 in the Paraíba do Sul river basin.

Fire effects on Atlantic Forest sites from a composition, structure and functional perspective.

Recently, some portions of the Atlantic Forest biome have been suffering an increase in forest fires, possibly changing its vegetation cover, composition, structure and functioning. Understanding these changes is critical to evaluate the present and future response of tropical forests to fire. Thus, the purpose of our study was to evaluate how diversity, structure and functioning of tree communities differed between burned and unburned sites.

Increased burned area in the Pantanal over the past two decades.

Wildfires are behaving differently now compared to other time in history in relation to frequency, intensity and affected ecosystems. In Brazil, unprecedented fires are being experienced in the last decade. Thus, to prevent and minimize similar disasters, we must better understand the natural and human drivers of such extreme events.