A study by Unicamp and Unesp points out that the fauna will undergo savannization, with animals from the Cerrado reaching regions of forest animals
The reader who has not yet picked up a R$ 200 note may have a better chance of seeing not the print, but the maned wolf in person, in an urban area or on the side of a highway, as in cases reported in the media – in the early hours of the morning. On the 19th, the camera caught one of them running through a shopping mall in Jataí (GO). “In fact, this is an effect of habitat loss. Species have less and less habitat available and, when fires or deforestation occur to build a condominium, for example, these animals flee and some end up heading towards cities. Maned wolves are not becoming more common, they just have nowhere to go”, says Professor Mathias Mistretta Pires, from the Department of Animal Biology at the Institute of Biology (IB) at Unicamp.
Studies have shown that climate change, deforestation and fires are causing a “savannization” of vegetation in several regions of the Amazon and Atlantic Forest. In a recent article coordinated by Mathias Pires and published in Global Change Biology, one of the most important journals on climate change, the authors warn that the fauna will also undergo this savannization, with animals from the Cerrado, such as the maned wolf and the giant anteater, migrating and competing for areas with forest animals. “Savannization is the replacement of forests with more open environments, with fewer trees and lower vegetation. This is already happening, especially as larger trees are more sensitive to dry weather and dry periods are more intense and frequent. Furthermore, deforestation accelerates this process.”
According to Pires, the study combined data on the distribution of 349 mammal species in South America, using computer models to make projections about changes in this distribution in the future. “We work with models and projections for the future, but there are already records that are in line with these projections, such as maned wolves appearing frequently in areas where they are not common, such as the Atlantic Forest, and species of armadillos and rodents typical of areas open spaces occurring increasingly beyond the edges of the Amazon, towards forests. Our models suggest this is likely to become increasingly common.”
The Unicamp professor explains that suitable conditions for forest animals, on the other hand, have been decreasing due to deforestation and are expected to decrease even further with changes in climate. “As a result, the distribution of these forest species becomes increasingly smaller, restricting them to what we call environmental refuges. Cerrado animals have also lost much of their original distribution area, as it is one of the biomes most threatened by the expansion of agriculture. And, according to our projections, other regions that currently have forests should become more suitable for these savanna species – which does not mean that they will benefit, as they will need to colonize these new areas, with no guarantee that they will be able to access them. them and establish populations there.”
Loss of biodiversity
Biologist Lilian Patrícia Sales, post-doctoral student in Ecology at Unicamp, is the main author of the article in Global Change Biology, which also had the collaboration of professor Mauro Galetti, from Unesp in Rio Claro. “Forest animals will be the most harmed by savannization, as in addition to losing habitat due to changes in climate, environment and vegetation, they will face competition with Cerrado animals. However, we must emphasize that only some savannah animals, the so-called generalists, will be able to occupy degraded and savannahized forests and, even so, they will depend on paths or connections between environments. Overall, what we expect is a loss of biodiversity.”
The study provides a list of 219 animals specialized in forest habitats that are expected to suffer reductions in their distribution, including primates from the Amazon and the Atlantic Forest, as well as squirrels and rodents that depend on trees or more closed environments. Primates, for example, rarely come down to the ground and need trees to move around or shelter, in addition to consuming fruits that are more abundant in forests. Savanna species, according to projections, will increase their distribution by 11% to 30% by the end of this century and will spread throughout the Amazon forests and Atlantic forests. The focus of the research is mammals, but there is already evidence of birds and reptiles experiencing the same phenomenon.
If the savannization of the tropical forest is still treated as a “risk”, Lilian Sales draws attention to worrying evidence that this is already occurring, mainly for the Amazon vegetation of the so-called Arc of Deforestation (a region that covers the southwest and west of Pará, south from Amazonas, to the west of Acre). However, in the biologist's opinion, more urgent than seeking to reverse the savannization process is to encourage individual actions and implement policies to mitigate climate change, such as the use of agricultural techniques that do not include fire and the fight against deforestation.
The study also considers the effect of deforestation on the movement of animals from one region to another, such as forest species, which are unable to cross a sugarcane or soybean plantation to colonize other environments suitable for them. An important point, adds Lílian Sales, is the maintenance (and creation) of forest corridors that allow the expansion of these animals to other forest areas, so that they are not limited to refuges.
Without such measures, according to the authors of the article, there could be large-scale changes in the territorial distribution of biodiversity on the South American continent by 2100. For professor Mathias Pires, regardless of the projections that go until the end of the century, there is a continuous process of change in natural environments, which is already underway and which should become more evident and occur in an increasingly larger region as time passes. “Measures to contain deforestation and mitigate climate change would be necessary to reverse this scenario, but public policies are going in the opposite direction.”
Maned wolf records in the Amazon
Researchers from Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Rondônia listed 22 records of the maned wolf in the Amazon in the last 25 years, ten of which are new records, which expands the limit of the species' geographic distribution by 51.000 square kilometers. The Amazon biome is considered the northern limit for the occurrence of the maned wolf and this territorial expansion is attributed to the transformation of the rainforest into grain monoculture, in addition to the growing human presence in its original regions, exposing the species to the risk of being run over, diseases and conflicts with farmers.
The study addressing the expansion of the Cerrado biome over the Amazon was published in the journal Environmental Science and Policy and reflected through the column Forest News, based on agency reporting Mongabay Brazil. Typical mammal and largest canid of the savannas of South America, the maned wolf, which has been on the 200 reais note since September this year, is classified as a “near threatened” species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN, in its acronym in English) and “vulnerable” by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).
The researchers estimate that there are still no effectively established maned wolf populations in the Amazon, only occasional occurrences, mainly in deforested areas that are being transformed into pasture. In the Atlantic Forest, there are established populations such as in the Itatiaia National Park, between Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, and in the Paraíba Valley, between São Paulo and Minas Gerais. It is estimated that there is a population of 24 thousand individuals in Brazil, with only 4% living in conserved environments.
