Ecology & Conservation Science - Juniper Publishers
Abstract
Landscape-scale conservation planning offers a way
out to the ecosystems degradation while ensuring the participation of
different levels of governance and the community in this process. The
corridor–patch–matrix model is an important strategy for conservation
planning in anthropogenic landscapes because it allows the integration
of natural and social systems in the conservation process. I recommend
the corridor–patch–matrix model, as a landscape-scale conservation
approach, because it offers a variety of perspectives on conservation
across large areas and transcending multiple boundaries, political and
ecological.
Keywords: Anthropogenic
process Biodiversity Corridor–Patch–Matrix Model Ecosystem services;
Landscape changes Landscape-scale conservation planning; Landscape
ecology
Introduction
Landscape ecology and landscape changes
Landscape ecology has been widely recognized as a
highly interdisciplinary science of heterogeneity [1]. In general,
heterogeneity refers to a multiscale structure composed of intertwining
patchiness and gradients in space and time. Heterogeneity may be
regarded as an essential cause and consequence of diversity and
complexity in both natural and social systems, and thus plays a key role
in dealing with complexity in theory and practice. Landscape ecology is
an interdisciplinary field concerned with how human and natural
processes interact to shape function of ecosystems in time and space and
how landscapes should be designed to foster sustainability [2].
Landscape ecology has also been considered as ‘‘a holistic and
transdisciplinary science of landscape study, appraisal, history,
planning and management, conservation, and restoration’’ [3].
In the last decades, many forested landscapes are
changing rapidly in response to changes in key social and ecological
drivers. Warming climate is altering forest productivity and the
distribution of some tree species [4]. Future climate projections
suggest that disturbance regimes could change profoundly in coming
decades [5]. Change in land use is also ongoing. Forest harvesting
continues in many landscapes while slowing in others, and exurban
development and thus the extent of wildland-urban interface has
increased, especially in forested landscapes with abundant environmental
amenities [6]. Collectively, changingdrivers will alter landscape
heterogeneity and resulting in the reduction of biodiversity and
ecosystem services, which are broadly defined as the benefits provided
by ecosystems that contribute to making human life both possible and
worth living [7]. The greatest impacts on biodiversity have occurred
at the native forest habitat level, such as the reduction and habitat
loss, generating important changes in the provision of ecosystem
services in different regions of the world. The impacts on the diversity
of native forest habitat and ecosystem services have occurred due to
the increase of the human population [8], which has transformed forest
landscapes to anthropogenic landscapes in the last decades [9]. The need
to conserve habitat diversity and ecosystem services within forest and
anthropogenic landscapes has been recognized by practitioners [10]. The
conservation of both resources would help to ensure the maintenance of
multiple benefits for human populations that inhabit them.
Landscape-scale conservation planning
Landscape-scale conservation planning is closely
related to the field of landscape ecology. Over the last decade, I have
seen an increased emphasis on landscape perspectives in environmental
planning at multiple scales because maintaining and restoring key
landscape elements at multiple spatial scales may be critical in
sustaining a wide range of ecosystem functions and services.
Consequently, landscape-scale conservation planning offersa way out to
the ecosystems degradation while ensuring the
participation of different levels of governance and the community
in this process. In this sense, it is important to highlight the
corridor–patch–matrix model, as an important strategy for
conservation planning in anthropogenic landscapes. This model
is appropriate when the configuration of the landscape consist
the native forest restricted to small patches sparsely distributed
across the landscape. The main objective of the corridor–patch–
matrix model is to maintain the quality and quantity of patches of
native forest through management of the matrix. The condition
of the matrix may be more important in determining the survival
of the species and provision of ecosystem services than the
isolation of patches [11,12]. Therefore, the management of the
matrix should focus on sensitive buffer areas that improve the
connectivity between forest patches and increase the ability of
the matrix to support the biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The planning and implementation of the corridor–patch–matrix
model implies the commitment and active participation of
governments and the community in general on a local and global
scale.
Conclusion
I recommend a landscape-scale conservation approach
because it offers a variety of perspectives on conservation across
large areas and transcending multiple boundaries, political
and ecological. I consider that the landscape-scale is a highly
relevant development for conservation and happens when a
landscape-scale conservation planning initiative may act as an
umbrella for landowners, managers, and local planners from
multiple jurisdictions to collaborate on making decisions to
achieve regional conservation goals. Moreover, I consider that
the corridor–patch–matrix model, as an important strategy for
conservation planning in anthropogenic landscapes because
it allows the integration of natural and social systems in the
conservation process.
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