Regional and Local Connectivity for Jaguars in the Atlantic Forest

DE ANGELO, CARLOS; MARTÍNEZ PARDO, JULIA; PAVIOLO, AGUSTÍN

Monterrey, CA

Conferencia; SCGIS 2016 International Conference; 2016

Society for Conservation GIS

ABSTRACT: The Atlantic Forest (AF) is a global biodiversity hotspot distributed in eastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay and northern Argentina, which has lost ≈90% of its range. The jaguar is the top predator in the AF, but due to its habitat requirements this felid is seriously threatened. For preserving the last jaguars of the AF, regional and local strategies are critical. In an international effort, jaguar specialists determined the priority jaguar subpopulations of jaguars that remain in the AF. We developed a least-cost-corridor analysis to evaluate potential corridors among jaguar subpopulations. We found that, although some subpopulations could be connected by corridors, most of them are practically isolated. Zooming in to the largest jaguar subpopulation, we focused in the most important areas for internal connectivity. In these areas, we used graph-based models and Conefor 2.6 to determine the relative importance of the remaining forest patches for maintaining habitat connectivity. This prioritization at patch level was consistent with the local laws for forest protection and management. Different connectivity analysis tools offered specific solutions for jaguar conservation in the AF. Least-cost corridors served as a practical tool for identifying the most isolated subpopulations at a regional scale. Graph-based models and Conefor were important for finding specific forest patches where local actions will have a huge impact for preserving jaguars in the main subpopulations.