TY - JOUR

T1 - Human footprint defining conservation strategies in Patagonian landscapes

T2 - Where we are and where we want to go?

AU - Rosas, Yamina Micaela

AU - Peri, Pablo L.

AU - Pidgeon, Anna M.

AU - Politi, Natalia

AU - Pedrana, Julieta

AU - Díaz-Delgado, Ricardo

AU - Pastur, Guillermo Martínez

N1 - Funding Information: ToWe thank Sebastián Martinuzzi, for very useful comments. We thank Consejo Agrario Provincial of Santa Cruz Province for support. Support was also provided by NASA (Grant number18-SLSCVC18-0019) This research is part of the doctoral thesis of YMR (Faculty of Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales in the Universidad Nacional de la Plata). Funding Information: ToWe thank Sebastián Martinuzzi, for very useful comments. We thank Consejo Agrario Provincial of Santa Cruz Province for support. Support was also provided by NASA (Grant number18-SLSCVC18-0019) This research is part of the doctoral thesis of YMR (Faculty of Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales in the Universidad Nacional de la Plata). Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Elsevier GmbH

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Understanding human influence on ecosystems and their services is crucial to achieve sustainable development and ensure the conservation of biodiversity. In this context, the human footprint index (HFI) represents the anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems and the natural environment. Our objective was to characterize the HFI in Southern Patagonia (Argentina) across the landscape, qualifying the differences among the main ecological areas and especially the forested landscapes. We also assessed the potential utility of HFI to identify priority conservation areas according to their wilderness quality and potential biodiversity values. We created a HFI map (scores varied from 0 representing high wilderness quality to 1 representing maximum human impact) using variables related to direct (e.g. infrastructure) and indirect (e.g. derived from economic activities) human impacts, including settlements, accessibility, oil industry, and sheep production. HFI varied significantly across the natural landscapes, being lower (0.07−0.11) in remote ecosystems close to the Andes Mountains and higher (0.38−0.40) in southern areas close to the provincial capital city. Forested landscapes presented different impact values, which were directly related to the economical values of the different forest types. We determined that the current protected area network is not equally distributed across the different ecological areas and forest types. Priority conservation areas were also identified using the fragmentation produced by the human impact, the patch size, and the potential biodiversity values. HFI can present high compatibility with other land-use management decision making tools, acting as a complement to the existing tools for conservation planning or management.

AB - Understanding human influence on ecosystems and their services is crucial to achieve sustainable development and ensure the conservation of biodiversity. In this context, the human footprint index (HFI) represents the anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems and the natural environment. Our objective was to characterize the HFI in Southern Patagonia (Argentina) across the landscape, qualifying the differences among the main ecological areas and especially the forested landscapes. We also assessed the potential utility of HFI to identify priority conservation areas according to their wilderness quality and potential biodiversity values. We created a HFI map (scores varied from 0 representing high wilderness quality to 1 representing maximum human impact) using variables related to direct (e.g. infrastructure) and indirect (e.g. derived from economic activities) human impacts, including settlements, accessibility, oil industry, and sheep production. HFI varied significantly across the natural landscapes, being lower (0.07−0.11) in remote ecosystems close to the Andes Mountains and higher (0.38−0.40) in southern areas close to the provincial capital city. Forested landscapes presented different impact values, which were directly related to the economical values of the different forest types. We determined that the current protected area network is not equally distributed across the different ecological areas and forest types. Priority conservation areas were also identified using the fragmentation produced by the human impact, the patch size, and the potential biodiversity values. HFI can present high compatibility with other land-use management decision making tools, acting as a complement to the existing tools for conservation planning or management.

KW - Conservation

KW - Drivers of change

KW - Forested landscapes

KW - Human impact

KW - Landscape scale

KW - Wilderness

U2 - 10.1016/j.jnc.2020.125946

DO - 10.1016/j.jnc.2020.125946

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85098490667

VL - 59

JO - Journal for Nature Conservation

JF - Journal for Nature Conservation

SN - 1617-1381

M1 - 125946

ER -