FRAGMENTATION OF THE LANDSCAPE IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF BRAGANÇA PAULISTA, SP

ABSTRACT

Habitat fragmentation and destruction are currently the main causes of biodiversity decline. One of the habitat conservation strategies is the creation of ecological corridors that are areas of connectivity between isolated fragments. This study was carried out in the municipality of Bragança Paulista, in the scope of the Atlantic Forest, covering the Mantiqueira Corridor in the Piracicaba-Juqueri-Mirim in the Environmental Protection Area. The objectives of this work were: i - to evaluate the isolation of native forest remains based on the landscaped parameters defined as size, shape, interior area and connectivity; and, ii - to identify potential areas for ecological corridors formation in the study area. The applied methodology was based in a Geographic Information System and the database used was composed by the Forest Inventory of the State of São Paulo, developed by Forest Institute; topographic maps of Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Eestatística, in scale of 1:50,000, associated with an shapefile data constituted by the municipal boundaries of the Instituto Geográfico e Cartográfico do Estado de São Paulo, all based on vector format. The results indicated that the great majority of the fragments are small, elongated, with low index of interior area and low connectivity, which makes the landscape of Bragança Paulista and its surroundings quite fragmented. However, it should be noted that this region still contains important forest remnants, both when considering the area of some fragments and the connectivity between them. The ecological corridors identified in the study area, known as the Jaguari Corridor and Baronesa-Iguatemi Corridor, include 74% of all forest cover studied and, if implemented in Bragança Paulista city, can contribute to the formation of a green belt in the municipality with the function of Protect the Jaguari River’s water resources and for the maintenance the local and regional biodiversity.

Keywords:
landscape ecology; Atlantic Forest; forest fragments; geoprocessing