Contributions of Forest Regeneration After Intense Fragmentation in the Amazon through Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis

Abstract

AbstractThis study analyzes the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondônia from the perspective of the forest regeneration observed from 2008 to 2018. The research examines the regeneration’s contribution to the landscape’s morphological spatial pattern within the state’s geographical limits, conservation units, indigenous lands, and the unprotected region. It assesses how the increase of forest regeneration areas influences morphological spatial patterns and evaluates whether the landscape in Rondônia has benefited from these new areas. The GuidosToolbox software was used to extract the morphological spatial pattern and the indices of morphological spatial patterns of forest habitats. The findings showed that Rondônia developed forest regeneration areas for 10 years, but these areas contributed little to improving the landscape morphological spatial patterns. The increase in regeneration areas contributed adequately only in the unprotected region. Therefore, the forest regeneration was not enough to compensate for the observed deforestation. Thus, conservation actions must be complemented with restoration activities focused on reconnecting patches and increasing the size of forest habitat through projects to encourage environmental regularization of exploited areas.