Concluding remarks : overall impacts on biodiversity and future perspectives for conservation in the Pantanal biome Alho , CJR

The Pantanal biome is characterised by seasonal flooding which determines specific ecosystem processes, with the occurrence of adapted plants and animals to the annual shrinking and expansion of habitats due to the seasonal hydrological regime. Biodiversity abundance varies during the dry and wet seasons. The Pantanal’s biodiversity is a fundamental component of ecosystem services for human society, including nutrient cycling, fish production, ecotourism, carbon storage, flood control, among others, which are relevant to regional and global environmental consequences. The biome has been impacted by the conversion of natural vegetation into agricultural fields and pasture for cattle raising, with alteration and loss of natural habitats and biodiversity. Major negative impacts occur in uplands, with drastic deforestation of savanna vegetation, where main rivers feeding the Pantanal have their springs. This article discusses future needs and priorities for ecological research, in order to better understand the biome’s natural system, to achieve conservation and sustainable use.


Research Priorities
It has become evident, because of the importance of the Pantanal biome, that scientific research is needed to improve conservation on the basis of scientific methods, in order to discuss the progress, problems and priorities to achieve sustainable use in the region.Scientific research improves our understanding of the magnitude of biodiversity, land use, and contributes to mitigating land use impacts.Incorporating research results into an action plan for biodiversity conservation of the Pantanal is an important part of the adaptive management process.The following are identified research priority topics for science-based conservation, protection and management: • Studies on ecological processes to better understand the function of natural ecosystems; • Hydrology studies to establish the relationship and dependence of river flow from highlands to floodplain in connection to the kinds of habitats and their associated biodiversity; with revolved soil due to mining processing.In addition, deforestation for agriculture and cattle pasture cause erosion mainly in slope terrains and mountain hillsides of the highlands.
While at the international level, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was established to protect wetlands, on the national level, Brazil has signed the Convention and designated the Pantanal as a Ramsar site.On the other hand, Brazilian environmental legislation has been recognised as updated, but difficult to enforce due to a weak environmental institutional structure, mainly in the two states (Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul) which comprises the Pantanal.

Environmental impacts affecting biodiversity
The Pantanal has been negatively impacted by unsustainable socio-economic development through predatory land use (Alho, 2005).Major economic activities are cattle ranching, fishing, agriculture, mining and tourism.Deforestation to convert natural habitats with pastures for cattle is increasing.The consequence is loss of biodiversity, for example, removal of forest that eliminates food and shelter, for forest-dwelling wildlife.Environmental pollutants are introduced from uncontrolled use of pesticides and herbicides, contamination with mercury from unregulated gold mining, urban liquid and solid waste, including untreated sewage, introduction of invasive exotic species, unsustainable tourism, illegal hunting, traffic of wildlife, soil degradation, lack of education and environmental consciousness, and fragility of environmental organizations to enhance legislation.

Needs to identify, evaluate and mitigate environmental impacts
Future development projects that affect the biome's biodiversity should only be undertaken after proper and thorough environment assessment procedures, based on specific terms of reference and public participation.Establishment of scoping to identify which potential impacts are relevant to assess, based on legislation, international conventions, technical and scientific knowledge and public involvement, to correct analysis to license projects or to reject them.
Brazilian public attitudes toward nature in general, and biodiversity in particular, have improved, and there has been more drive to protect the Pantanal.It would constitute progress to protect the ecological relationship between the floodplain, which is the Pantanal, and its surrounding upland plateaus, to apply environmental flow assessment (EFA) in any development project that affects river flow.This should apply for the hydroelectric plants being established in rivers that feed the Pantanal.This procedure should determine how much of the natural flow regime of a given river should continue to flow down to the Pantanal floodplain in order to maintain ecosystem processes.If on the one hand, development projects are good for the region, on the other, conservation priorities have to be carried out in order to fulfill ecological needs. of natural habitats, the Pantanal is also facing other threats including the consequences of climate change.
Independent of human benefit or intervention, an ecosystem works as an interdependent system in nature and biodiversity is an important component of this holistic system.However, during recent years, several published reports emphasise the role of ecosystem services for human being as a tool to apply conservation and protection (Costanza et al., 1997;Daily, 1997;Daily et al., 1997;Balmford et al., 2002;De Groot et al., 2002;Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005a-k;Alho, 2008;Chivian and Bernstein, 2008;Mindell, 2009;Keddy et al., 2009;Cardinale et al., 2009).The concept of ecosystem services implies function and ecosystem processes, meaning the conditions through which natural ecosystems and biodiversity, that integrates the system, sustain and fulfill human life.
Ecosystem services are the benefits provided to humans as a function of ecosystem processes, like water quality, pure air, geobiochemical cycling of nutrients for plants and animals including importance for agriculture, wood, food, medicine and so on.It is the capacity of ecosystem processes to provide services and goods that satisfy human needs.These ecosystem processes are interactions among elements of the ecosystem or ecological attributes (physical, like solar energy and soil; chemical, like photosynthesis and cycling of nutrients; biotic, like primary production and secondary production, food chain and behavioral interactions) that are valued by humans.
The following ecosystem services of the Pantanal illustrate the importance of protected nature and show the relevance for scientific research: • River flow.Natural river flows of hydrological cycles are fundamental for drainage, river discharge and seasonal inundation that influence habitats and biodiversity.They provide water quality for human consumption and nutrients for fishery.• Nutrient cycling.Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus are cycled in ecosystems.Decomposition by soil organisms releases these and other elements into the soil and atmosphere so they can be used again.Nutrient cycling provides productive soil.Ecological processes play a role in storing and recycling organic matter, nutrients and human waste.• Fishery.Fish is an important economic element of the Pantanal.Feeding and reproductive habitats of commercial fish depend on natural ecosystems.

• Aesthetic, recreation and cultural attributes.
There is an increasing touristic industry in the Pantanal.People are attracted to the region by its natural scenery and beautiful landscapes.Bird watching has become internationally popular in the region and natural ecosystems are often used as places for recreation, including sport fishing.The biome also offers cultural traditions and folklore.
• Identification and analyses of bioindicators for habitat quality and for degrees of disturbances;

Ecosystem services in connection with human well-being and research opportunities
Ecosystem processes of the Pantanal maintain biodiversity by providing habitats for many plant and animal species.These processes produce products such as fish and other extractive resources.As a wetland, the biome is a productive ecosystem, providing seasonal nutrients for biodiversity.In addition to unsustainable land use and increasing economic development resulting in degradation to human quality of life.This important Brazilian biome requires sustainable management for its use and economic development, built on a new approach for the future, considering the inseparable relationship between economic development and human well-being to achieve sustainability.Scientific research can pave the way to reach this objective.Due to the rapid rate of environmental degradation, including altered hydrology, with loss of natural habitats and biodiversity, management strategies are imperative and urgent.
• Medicinal and genetic attributes.The biome's biodiversity offers a diversity of life forms to be cultivated as crops and domesticated animals and also material for biotechnological experiments.It provides material for synthetic drugs used as medicines.
Vegetation cover, evaporation, regional and continental circulation patterns, like El Niño and La Niña, and water bodies, all interact to determine weather and climate.Seasonally flooded areas can be carbon sinks, which influence global climate change.The regional soil is composed of partially decayed accumulations of plants, and other organisms, resulting in stored carbon.The removal of carbon from the atmosphere depends on that carbon storage and vegetation cover.Estimates for the annual carbon accumulation in the Pantanal are not known, but the biome may play a significant role in the sequestration of carbon.There is a concerning trend about the future of Brazilian biomes regarding climate changing and the ecosystem processes.According to the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Cancún, Mexico, in November-December 2010, studies on climate and hydrologic models in the Cerrado river basins pointed out toward a reduction of 20-25% of annual precipitation in 2100, leading to a decrease of 7-10% in the volume of recharge of aquifers and in the river discharges, depending on the analysed scenario.Ecosystem services provided by the Pantanal include maintenance of biodiversity, landscape, freshwater supply, fishery, nutrient cycling.These ecosystem services contribute