Edapho-climatic zoning under climate change scenarios as a support tool for forest restoration in Minas Gerais, Brazil
terça-feira, agosto 06, 2019
Author: FILPI, Heitor Eduardo Ferreira Campos Morato
Abstract: In Minas Gerais, extensive areas of degraded lands have been associated with serious environmental problems. The urgent need for restoration measures and the environmental obligations have significantly increased the demand for projects focused on reestablishing forests. Nevertheless, several of these projects have been failing due to the lack of knowledge related to the biology and ecophysiology of the species used. In this context, the present study aimed to develop an edapho-climatic zoning to subsidize decision-making during the species selection for restoration projects and environmental regulation in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
For this study, we selected five tree species: Dipteryx alata Vog, Joannesia princeps Vell, Schinus terebinthifolious Raddi, Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq) Lodd and Myracrodruon urundeuva Fr All. For the zoning, we used climatic data in a spatial resolution of 0.25°. The requirements of the selected species were determined based on the climate and soil conditions of their natural occurrence. The edapho-climatic zoning maps were generated through a weighted fuzzy inference system and it was carried out under current and future climate conditions according to RCP8.5 scenario of IPCC. Lastly, the geographic location of the 14 administrative divisions, in which the State Forest Institute (IEF) run tree nurseries, were plotted on the climatic zoning maps for identifying which administrative divisions are climatically more suitable for each species selected. According to the results, the extreme north and extreme south of the state were
the least suitable areas to all species.
With the exception of Acrocomia aculeata, annual water deficit and rainfall seasonality had the greatest weights. Concerning the future projections, we suggest that the north and northeast will be the most affected regions in Minas Gerais by climate change. The overlapping of the IEF administrative divisions on the zoning maps indicated that not all administrative divisions present favorable conditions for the survival of the species. Essentially, as the climate becomes more unpredictable, the results show that edapho-climatic zoning may be an indispensable tool for forest restoration planning.
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Page: Locus UFV
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