Historic ecology and the management effects to the restauration and conservation of Atlantic Forest of Southern Brazil
Biodiversity of Santa Catarina: investigating the historic ecology and the management effects to the restauration and conservation of Atlantic Forest of Southern Brazil
Chamada CNPq/MCTI/CONFAP-FAPS/PELD nº 21/2020. Duration: 2020 to now. Coordinator: Selvino Neckel de Oliveira.
The Atlantic Forest is home to one of the greatest biodiversity on the planet. However, the conciliation between conservation and sustainable use of its resources is facing challenges due to their biogeographic characteristics and historical ecology. The São Joaquim National Park (SJNP) is an area of integral protection whose geomorphological, biological and historical ecology aspects are representative of the South-Brazilian Plateau. Here there is a gradiente between high-elevation grasslands and Araucaria Forests, with Subtropical Rainforest at the bottom of the valleys. Its araucaria forests, Cloud Forests and grasslands have been disturbed for decades by intensive land use, mainly by cattle grazing. Systematic studies to learn about the SJNP biodiversity began in 2013 with the implementation of the Santa Catarina Brazilian Program for Biodiversity Research (PPBio-SC) and permanent plots in areas above 1,000m. In 2018, studies were extended to the PNSJ overlapping area with the Serra Furada State Park (SFSP), where the Coastal Atlantic Rainforest predominates.
The main objective of this proposal is to understand how changes in land use, factors related to environmental changes and invasion by exotic species influence the structure of ecosystems and their services along environmental and altitudinal gradients in two Protected Areas in the State of Santa Catarina: São Joaquim National Park and Serra Furada State Park. The quantification and long-term monitoring of the indicators of these changes in both impacted and protected areas contribute to understanding the effects of different types of management on the dynamics and maintenance of diversity and to identify and promote sustainable long-term management of the ecosystems of these Protected Areas.
