@Article{BroggioSilNasVilAra:2024:QuLaFr,
               author = "Broggio, Igor S. and Silva J{\'u}nior, Celso Henrique Leite and 
                         Nascimento, Marcelo T. and Villela, Dora M. and Arag{\~a}o, Luiz 
                         Eduardo Oliveira e Cruz de",
          affiliation = "{Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF)} 
                         and {Amazon Environmental Research Institute} and {Universidade 
                         Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF)} and 
                         {Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (UENF)} 
                         and {Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)}",
                title = "Quantifying landscape fragmentation and forest carbon dynamics 
                         over 35 years in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest",
              journal = "Environmental Research Letters",
                 year = "2024",
               volume = "19",
               number = "3",
                pages = "e034047",
                month = "Mar.",
             keywords = "deforestation, degradation, ecosystem services, forest 
                         restoration, land-use change.",
             abstract = "The Brazilian Atlantic Forest (AF) covers 13% of Brazil but 
                         retains only 26% of its original forest area. Utilizing a 
                         Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA), we generated 30 m 
                         spatial resolution fragmentation maps for old-growth and secondary 
                         forests across the AF. We quantified landscape fragmentation 
                         patterns and carbon (C) dynamics over 35 years using MapBiomas 
                         data between the years 1985 and 2020. We found that from 1985 to 
                         2020 the forest suffered continuous fragmentation, losing core 
                         (nuclei forest fragments) and bridge (areas that connect different 
                         core areas) components of the landscape. About 87.5% (290 468.4 
                         km2) of the remaining forest lacked core areas, with bridges 
                         (38.0%) and islets (small, isolated fragments) (35.4%) being 
                         predominant. Secondary forests (1986-2020) accounted for 99 450.5 
                         km2 and played a significant role in fragmentation pattern, 
                         constituting 44.9% of the areas affected by edge effects 
                         (perforation, edge, bridge, and loop), 53.7% of islets, and 
                         comprising only 1.4% of core forest. Additionally, regeneration by 
                         secondary forests contributed to all fragmentation classes in 
                         2020. Even with the regrowth of forests, the total forested area 
                         in the biome did not increase between 1985 and 2020. Deforestation 
                         emissions reached 818 Tg CO2, closely paralleled by edge effects 
                         emissions at 810 Tg CO2, highlighting a remarkable parity in C 
                         emissions between the two processes. Despite slow changes, AF 
                         biome continues to lose its C stocks. We estimated that around 
                         1.96 million hectares (19 600 km2) of regenerated forest would be 
                         required to offset the historical C emissions over the analysed 
                         period. Hence, MSPA can support landscape monitoring, optimizing 
                         natural or active forest regeneration to reduce fragmentation and 
                         enhance C stocks. Our study's findings are critical for guiding 
                         land-use policies focusing on minimizing emissions, promoting 
                         forest regrowth, and monitoring its permanence. This study offers 
                         biome scale, spatially explicit information, critical for AF 
                         conservation and management.",
                  doi = "10.1088/1748-9326/ad281c",
                  url = "http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad281c",
                 issn = "1748-9326",
             language = "en",
           targetfile = "Broggio_2024_Environ._Res._Lett._19_034047.pdf",
        urlaccessdate = "10 maio 2024"
}