Ecologia de paisagem e estratégias para conservação da biodiversidade em ambientes fragmentados. Um estudo de caso: A área do Campus de Ondina - Federação e do Parque Zoobotânico Getúlio Vargas - Salvador - Bahia

Abstract

The accelerated urbanization process occurred from the mid-twentieth century in several Brazilian cities promoted, among other consequences, a disordered and unplanned growth of cities. This urbanization and unplanned exploitation of natural resources have resulted in an immediate reduction / elimination of areas of natural habitats and increased landscape fragmentation contained in urban systems, resulting in severe impacts on ecological processes determining the persistence of local populations. Considering this scenario, and based on the principles of landscape ecology, we developed a study of the structural composition of the fragments and dominant spatial arrangement in the landscape comprehended by areas of the Federal University of Bahia’s campus Ondina – Federação and surrounding in order to identify priority areas for the implementation of conservation strategies that promote a better state of ecosystem functions and refuge habitat and increase landscape connectivity. We start from the assumption that the effects of habitat loss and landscape fragmentation on ecosystem functions and refuge habitat essential for the conservation of biological and genetic evolutionary processes and preservation of diversities, can be mitigated through strategies that aims to increase the area and/or quality of specimens and improving landscape connectivity. To this end, the work was developed through two distinct approaches. First, by using programs created for Geographic Information System (GIS) and landscape metrics processing, were performed procedures to enable analysis of the composition and configuration of the landscape. The next approach, basing on spatial analysis and application of landscape metrics for constructing prioritization index of fragments, identified priority areas for conservation. The lack of interventions of strategic conservation in priority areas indicated and not planning of landscape certainly promote increase in the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats with possible negative implications on ecological processes determinants the persistence of autochthonous species. The study concludes by warning that although the landscape metrics are very useful tools for the analysis of spatial patterns of landscape, because of its static nature, based on a set of topological and statistical rules and the usual use of categorical models of landscape should be applied considering behavioural aspects of key species.