Wildlife corridors between the Brasília National Park and the Águas Emendadas Ecological Station

Abstract

This study aimed to suggest wildlife corridor (WLC) between the Brasília National Park (PNB) and the Águas Emendadas Ecological Station (EEAE) in the Federal District, Brazil. The ArcMap 10.5 was used for data processing and map creation. Raster images of land use, land cover, and population density were obtained based on adaptations of vectorized files. These raster maps were reclassified as “cost” maps. Subsequently, the raster calculator function was used to obtain the map of total cost, which, together with the vectorized file of the PNB—using the cost distance and cost back link functions—resulted in two raster maps. Afterwards, these maps, together with the vectorized EEAE file, gave rise to the map containing the WLCs. Two WLCs were suggested, one “larger,” with 34,905.44 ha, and the “smaller” one, with 15,487.78 ha. The smaller one consisted predominantly—91.26 %—of the classes of land use and occupation of grassland, forest, and savanna formations and permanent preservation areas (PPA), while the larger one consisted of 78.48 % of grassland, forest and savanna formations, PPA, and conservation units. The quality of the natural environment connecting the flora and fauna between the conservation units for the smaller WLC is therefore guaranteed by the greater representativeness of the vegetation domain of Cerrado, made up of the classes of use and occupation of grassland, forest and savanna formation, in the smaller WLC than in the larger WLC (2.3 times the size of the smaller WLC).