Linking land-use and land-cover transitions to their ecological impact in the Amazon

Cássio Alencar Nunes; Erika Berenguer; Filipe França; Joice Ferreira; Alexander C. Lees; Julio Louzada; Emma J. Sayer; Ricardo Solar; Charlotte C. Smith; Luiz E. O. C. Aragão; Danielle de Lima Braga; Plinio Barbosa de Camargo; Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri; Jr Raimundo Cosme de Oliveira; Mariana Durigan; Nárgila Moura; Victor Hugo Fonseca Oliveira; Carla Ribas; Fernando Vaz-de-Mello; Ima Vieira; Ronald Zanetti; Jos Barlow

doi:10.1073/pnas.2202310119

Linking land-use and land-cover transitions to their ecological impact in the Amazon

Cássio Alencar Nunes
, Erika Berenguer
, Filipe França
, Joice Ferreira
, Alexander C. Lees
, Julio Louzada
, Emma J. Sayer
, Ricardo Solar
, Charlotte C. Smith
, Luiz E. O. C. Aragão
, Danielle de Lima Braga
, Plinio Barbosa de Camargo
, Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri
, Jr Raimundo Cosme de Oliveira
, Mariana Durigan
, Nárgila Moura
, Victor Hugo Fonseca Oliveira
, Carla Ribas
, Fernando Vaz-de-Mello
, Ima Vieira

Ronald Zanetti, Jos Barlow

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

83 Citations (Scopus)

223 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Human activities pose a major threat to tropical forest biodiversity and ecosystem services. Although the impacts of deforestation are well studied, multiple land-use and land-cover transitions (LULCTs) occur in tropical landscapes, and we do not know how LULCTs differ in their rates or impacts on key ecosystem components. Here, we quantified the impacts of 18 LULCTs on three ecosystem components (biodiversity, carbon, and soil), based on 18 variables collected from 310 sites in the Brazilian Amazon. Across all LULCTs, biodiversity was the most affected ecosystem component, followed by carbon stocks, but the magnitude of change differed widely among LULCTs and individual variables. Forest clearance for pasture was the most prevalent and high-impact transition, but we also identified other LULCTs with high impact but lower prevalence (e.g., forest to agriculture). Our study demonstrates the importance of considering multiple ecosystem components and LULCTs to understand the consequences of human activities in tropical landscapes.

Original language	English
Article number	e2202310119
Pages (from-to)	e2202310119
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Volume	119
Issue number	27
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2202310119
Publication status	Published - 5 Jul 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are grateful to the following for financial support: Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT)–Biodiversidade e Uso da Terra na Amazônia (grant Nos. CNPq 574008/2008-0 and CNPq 477583/2009-1), Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária–Embrapa (SEG: 02.08.06.005.00), the Brazilian Research Council (grant Nos. CNPq-CAPES 441659/2016-0 and 441573/2020-7 [PELD-RAS]; CNPq-PrevFogo-IBAMA 441949/2018-5 [SEM-FLAMA]; and MCIC-CNPq 420254/2018-8 [RESFLORA]), the UK Government Darwin Initiative (grant No. 17-023), The Nature Conservancy, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (grant Nos. NE/F01614X/1, NE/G000816/1, NE/K016431/1, NE/P004512/1, and NE/L002604/1). C.A.N. was funded by a PhD scholarship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior–Brasil (CAPES)–Finance Code 001 and a postdoc scholarship (grant No. 88887.469205/2019-00). F.F., J.B., and A.C.L. acknowledge funds provided by the Climate and Biodiversity Initiative of the BNP Paribas Foundation (Project BIOCLIMATE). F.V.M., R.S. and L.E.O.C.A. thanks the CNPq for research fellow funding (PQ1B, PQ2 and No. 314416/2020-0, respectively). C.A.N. used and manipulated artwork designed by Freepik (open license) to construct Fig. 1 and acknowledges it. We thank the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Program (LBA) for logistical and infrastructure support during field measurements in the STM region. We are deeply grateful to all field and laboratory assistants who helped with data collection and to Nathália Carvalho for creating the map of the study site (SI Appendix, Fig. S1). We also thank all collaborating private land owners for their support and for access to their land. This is paper No. 89 of the Rede Amazônia Sustentável (RAS) publication series.

Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We are grateful to the following for financial support: Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT)–Biodiversidade e Uso da Terra na Amazônia (grant Nos. CNPq 574008/2008-0 and CNPq 477583/2009-1), Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária–Embrapa (SEG: 02.08.06.005.00), the Brazilian Research Council (grant Nos. CNPq-CAPES 441659/2016-0 and 441573/ 2020-7 [PELD-RAS]; CNPq-PrevFogo-IBAMA 441949/2018-5 [SEM-FLAMA]; and MCIC-CNPq 420254/2018-8 [RESFLORA]), the UK Government Darwin Initiative (grant No. 17-023), The Nature Conservancy, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (grant Nos. NE/F01614X/1, NE/G000816/1, NE/K016431/1, NE/P004512/1, and NE/L002604/1). C.A.N. was funded by a PhD scholarship from the Coor-denac¸ão de Aperfeic¸oamento de Pessoal de Ńıvel Superior–Brasil (CAPES)– Finance Code 001 and a postdoc scholarship (grant No. 88887.469205/2019-00). F.F., J.B., and A.C.L. acknowledge funds provided by the Climate and Biodiversity Initiative of the BNP Paribas Foundation (Project BIOCLIMATE). F.V.M., R.S. and L.E.O.C.A. thanks the CNPq for research fellow funding (PQ1B, PQ2 and No. 314416/2020-0, respectively). C.A.N. used and manipulated artwork designed by Freepik (open license) to construct Fig. 1 and acknowledges it. We thank the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Program (LBA) for logistical and infrastructure support during field measurements in the STM region. We are deeply grateful to all field and laboratory assistants who helped with data collection and to Nathália Carvalho for creating the map of the study site (SI Appendix, Fig. S1). We also thank all collaborating private land owners for their support and for access to their land. This is paper No. 89 of the Rede Amazônia Sustentável (RAS) publication series.

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Copyright © 2022 the Author(s).

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Nunes, C. A., Berenguer, E., França, F., Ferreira, J., Lees, A. C., Louzada, J., Sayer, E. J., Solar, R., Smith, C. C., Aragão, L. E. O. C., Braga, D. D. L., Camargo, P. B. D., Cerri, C. E. P., Raimundo Cosme de Oliveira, J., Durigan, M., Moura, N., Oliveira, V. H. F., Ribas, C., Vaz-de-Mello, F., ... Barlow, J. (2022). Linking land-use and land-cover transitions to their ecological impact in the Amazon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(27), e2202310119. Article e2202310119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2202310119

@article{a9bfd3e9b8054924ac31cf761a0fa03e,

title = "Linking land-use and land-cover transitions to their ecological impact in the Amazon",

abstract = "Human activities pose a major threat to tropical forest biodiversity and ecosystem services. Although the impacts of deforestation are well studied, multiple land-use and land-cover transitions (LULCTs) occur in tropical landscapes, and we do not know how LULCTs differ in their rates or impacts on key ecosystem components. Here, we quantified the impacts of 18 LULCTs on three ecosystem components (biodiversity, carbon, and soil), based on 18 variables collected from 310 sites in the Brazilian Amazon. Across all LULCTs, biodiversity was the most affected ecosystem component, followed by carbon stocks, but the magnitude of change differed widely among LULCTs and individual variables. Forest clearance for pasture was the most prevalent and high-impact transition, but we also identified other LULCTs with high impact but lower prevalence (e.g., forest to agriculture). Our study demonstrates the importance of considering multiple ecosystem components and LULCTs to understand the consequences of human activities in tropical landscapes.",

author = "Nunes, \{C{\'a}ssio Alencar\} and Erika Berenguer and Filipe Fran{\c c}a and Joice Ferreira and Lees, \{Alexander C.\} and Julio Louzada and Sayer, \{Emma J.\} and Ricardo Solar and Smith, \{Charlotte C.\} and Arag{\~a}o, \{Luiz E. O. C.\} and Braga, \{Danielle de Lima\} and Camargo, \{Plinio Barbosa de\} and Cerri, \{Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino\} and \{Raimundo Cosme de Oliveira\}, Jr and Mariana Durigan and N{\'a}rgila Moura and Oliveira, \{Victor Hugo Fonseca\} and Carla Ribas and Fernando Vaz-de-Mello and Ima Vieira and Ronald Zanetti and Jos Barlow",

note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to the following for financial support: Instituto Nacional de Ci{\^e}ncia e Tecnologia (INCT)–Biodiversidade e Uso da Terra na Amaz{\^o}nia (grant Nos. CNPq 574008/2008-0 and CNPq 477583/2009-1), Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecu{\'a}ria–Embrapa (SEG: 02.08.06.005.00), the Brazilian Research Council (grant Nos. CNPq-CAPES 441659/2016-0 and 441573/2020-7 [PELD-RAS]; CNPq-PrevFogo-IBAMA 441949/2018-5 [SEM-FLAMA]; and MCIC-CNPq 420254/2018-8 [RESFLORA]), the UK Government Darwin Initiative (grant No. 17-023), The Nature Conservancy, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (grant Nos. NE/F01614X/1, NE/G000816/1, NE/K016431/1, NE/P004512/1, and NE/L002604/1). C.A.N. was funded by a PhD scholarship from the Coordena{\c c}{\~a}o de Aperfei{\c c}oamento de Pessoal de N{\'i}vel Superior–Brasil (CAPES)–Finance Code 001 and a postdoc scholarship (grant No. 88887.469205/2019-00). F.F., J.B., and A.C.L. acknowledge funds provided by the Climate and Biodiversity Initiative of the BNP Paribas Foundation (Project BIOCLIMATE). F.V.M., R.S. and L.E.O.C.A. thanks the CNPq for research fellow funding (PQ1B, PQ2 and No. 314416/2020-0, respectively). C.A.N. used and manipulated artwork designed by Freepik (open license) to construct Fig. 1 and acknowledges it. We thank the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Program (LBA) for logistical and infrastructure support during field measurements in the STM region. We are deeply grateful to all field and laboratory assistants who helped with data collection and to Nath{\'a}lia Carvalho for creating the map of the study site (SI Appendix, Fig. S1). We also thank all collaborating private land owners for their support and for access to their land. This is paper No. 89 of the Rede Amaz{\^o}nia Sustent{\'a}vel (RAS) publication series. Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We are grateful to the following for financial support: Instituto Nacional de Ci{\^e}ncia e Tecnologia (INCT)–Biodiversidade e Uso da Terra na Amaz{\^o}nia (grant Nos. CNPq 574008/2008-0 and CNPq 477583/2009-1), Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecu{\'a}ria–Embrapa (SEG: 02.08.06.005.00), the Brazilian Research Council (grant Nos. CNPq-CAPES 441659/2016-0 and 441573/ 2020-7 [PELD-RAS]; CNPq-PrevFogo-IBAMA 441949/2018-5 [SEM-FLAMA]; and MCIC-CNPq 420254/2018-8 [RESFLORA]), the UK Government Darwin Initiative (grant No. 17-023), The Nature Conservancy, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (grant Nos. NE/F01614X/1, NE/G000816/1, NE/K016431/1, NE/P004512/1, and NE/L002604/1). C.A.N. was funded by a PhD scholarship from the Coor-denac¸{\~a}o de Aperfeic¸oamento de Pessoal de {\'N}ıvel Superior–Brasil (CAPES)– Finance Code 001 and a postdoc scholarship (grant No. 88887.469205/2019-00). F.F., J.B., and A.C.L. acknowledge funds provided by the Climate and Biodiversity Initiative of the BNP Paribas Foundation (Project BIOCLIMATE). F.V.M., R.S. and L.E.O.C.A. thanks the CNPq for research fellow funding (PQ1B, PQ2 and No. 314416/2020-0, respectively). C.A.N. used and manipulated artwork designed by Freepik (open license) to construct Fig. 1 and acknowledges it. We thank the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Program (LBA) for logistical and infrastructure support during field measurements in the STM region. We are deeply grateful to all field and laboratory assistants who helped with data collection and to Nath{\'a}lia Carvalho for creating the map of the study site (SI Appendix, Fig. S1). We also thank all collaborating private land owners for their support and for access to their land. This is paper No. 89 of the Rede Amaz{\^o}nia Sustent{\'a}vel (RAS) publication series. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2022 the Author(s).",

year = "2022",

month = jul,

day = "5",

doi = "10.1073/pnas.2202310119",

language = "English",

volume = "119",

pages = "e2202310119",

journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",

issn = "0027-8424",

publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",

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Nunes, CA, Berenguer, E, França, F, Ferreira, J, Lees, AC, Louzada, J, Sayer, EJ, Solar, R, Smith, CC, Aragão, LEOC, Braga, DDL, Camargo, PBD, Cerri, CEP, Raimundo Cosme de Oliveira, J, Durigan, M, Moura, N, Oliveira, VHF, Ribas, C, Vaz-de-Mello, F, Vieira, I, Zanetti, R & Barlow, J 2022, 'Linking land-use and land-cover transitions to their ecological impact in the Amazon', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 119, no. 27, e2202310119, pp. e2202310119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2202310119

TY - JOUR

T1 - Linking land-use and land-cover transitions to their ecological impact in the Amazon

AU - Nunes, Cássio Alencar

AU - Berenguer, Erika

AU - França, Filipe

AU - Ferreira, Joice

AU - Lees, Alexander C.

AU - Louzada, Julio

AU - Sayer, Emma J.

AU - Solar, Ricardo

AU - Smith, Charlotte C.

AU - Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.

AU - Braga, Danielle de Lima

AU - Camargo, Plinio Barbosa de

AU - Cerri, Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino

AU - Raimundo Cosme de Oliveira, Jr

AU - Durigan, Mariana

AU - Moura, Nárgila

AU - Oliveira, Victor Hugo Fonseca

AU - Ribas, Carla

AU - Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando

AU - Vieira, Ima

AU - Zanetti, Ronald

AU - Barlow, Jos

N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful to the following for financial support: Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT)–Biodiversidade e Uso da Terra na Amazônia (grant Nos. CNPq 574008/2008-0 and CNPq 477583/2009-1), Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária–Embrapa (SEG: 02.08.06.005.00), the Brazilian Research Council (grant Nos. CNPq-CAPES 441659/2016-0 and 441573/2020-7 [PELD-RAS]; CNPq-PrevFogo-IBAMA 441949/2018-5 [SEM-FLAMA]; and MCIC-CNPq 420254/2018-8 [RESFLORA]), the UK Government Darwin Initiative (grant No. 17-023), The Nature Conservancy, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (grant Nos. NE/F01614X/1, NE/G000816/1, NE/K016431/1, NE/P004512/1, and NE/L002604/1). C.A.N. was funded by a PhD scholarship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior–Brasil (CAPES)–Finance Code 001 and a postdoc scholarship (grant No. 88887.469205/2019-00). F.F., J.B., and A.C.L. acknowledge funds provided by the Climate and Biodiversity Initiative of the BNP Paribas Foundation (Project BIOCLIMATE). F.V.M., R.S. and L.E.O.C.A. thanks the CNPq for research fellow funding (PQ1B, PQ2 and No. 314416/2020-0, respectively). C.A.N. used and manipulated artwork designed by Freepik (open license) to construct Fig. 1 and acknowledges it. We thank the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Program (LBA) for logistical and infrastructure support during field measurements in the STM region. We are deeply grateful to all field and laboratory assistants who helped with data collection and to Nathália Carvalho for creating the map of the study site (SI Appendix, Fig. S1). We also thank all collaborating private land owners for their support and for access to their land. This is paper No. 89 of the Rede Amazônia Sustentável (RAS) publication series. Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. We are grateful to the following for financial support: Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (INCT)–Biodiversidade e Uso da Terra na Amazônia (grant Nos. CNPq 574008/2008-0 and CNPq 477583/2009-1), Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária–Embrapa (SEG: 02.08.06.005.00), the Brazilian Research Council (grant Nos. CNPq-CAPES 441659/2016-0 and 441573/ 2020-7 [PELD-RAS]; CNPq-PrevFogo-IBAMA 441949/2018-5 [SEM-FLAMA]; and MCIC-CNPq 420254/2018-8 [RESFLORA]), the UK Government Darwin Initiative (grant No. 17-023), The Nature Conservancy, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (grant Nos. NE/F01614X/1, NE/G000816/1, NE/K016431/1, NE/P004512/1, and NE/L002604/1). C.A.N. was funded by a PhD scholarship from the Coor-denac¸ão de Aperfeic¸oamento de Pessoal de Ńıvel Superior–Brasil (CAPES)– Finance Code 001 and a postdoc scholarship (grant No. 88887.469205/2019-00). F.F., J.B., and A.C.L. acknowledge funds provided by the Climate and Biodiversity Initiative of the BNP Paribas Foundation (Project BIOCLIMATE). F.V.M., R.S. and L.E.O.C.A. thanks the CNPq for research fellow funding (PQ1B, PQ2 and No. 314416/2020-0, respectively). C.A.N. used and manipulated artwork designed by Freepik (open license) to construct Fig. 1 and acknowledges it. We thank the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Program (LBA) for logistical and infrastructure support during field measurements in the STM region. We are deeply grateful to all field and laboratory assistants who helped with data collection and to Nathália Carvalho for creating the map of the study site (SI Appendix, Fig. S1). We also thank all collaborating private land owners for their support and for access to their land. This is paper No. 89 of the Rede Amazônia Sustentável (RAS) publication series. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 the Author(s).

PY - 2022/7/5

Y1 - 2022/7/5

N2 - Human activities pose a major threat to tropical forest biodiversity and ecosystem services. Although the impacts of deforestation are well studied, multiple land-use and land-cover transitions (LULCTs) occur in tropical landscapes, and we do not know how LULCTs differ in their rates or impacts on key ecosystem components. Here, we quantified the impacts of 18 LULCTs on three ecosystem components (biodiversity, carbon, and soil), based on 18 variables collected from 310 sites in the Brazilian Amazon. Across all LULCTs, biodiversity was the most affected ecosystem component, followed by carbon stocks, but the magnitude of change differed widely among LULCTs and individual variables. Forest clearance for pasture was the most prevalent and high-impact transition, but we also identified other LULCTs with high impact but lower prevalence (e.g., forest to agriculture). Our study demonstrates the importance of considering multiple ecosystem components and LULCTs to understand the consequences of human activities in tropical landscapes.

AB - Human activities pose a major threat to tropical forest biodiversity and ecosystem services. Although the impacts of deforestation are well studied, multiple land-use and land-cover transitions (LULCTs) occur in tropical landscapes, and we do not know how LULCTs differ in their rates or impacts on key ecosystem components. Here, we quantified the impacts of 18 LULCTs on three ecosystem components (biodiversity, carbon, and soil), based on 18 variables collected from 310 sites in the Brazilian Amazon. Across all LULCTs, biodiversity was the most affected ecosystem component, followed by carbon stocks, but the magnitude of change differed widely among LULCTs and individual variables. Forest clearance for pasture was the most prevalent and high-impact transition, but we also identified other LULCTs with high impact but lower prevalence (e.g., forest to agriculture). Our study demonstrates the importance of considering multiple ecosystem components and LULCTs to understand the consequences of human activities in tropical landscapes.

UR - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2202310119

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2202310119

DO - 10.1073/pnas.2202310119

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

C2 - 35759674

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 119

SP - e2202310119

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

IS - 27

M1 - e2202310119

ER -

Linking land-use and land-cover transitions to their ecological impact in the Amazon

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