Modelagem de corredores ecológicos para diferentes grupos funcionas em Belo Horizonte: o papel da morfologia urbana

Abstract

The urban population is increasing every year; this accelerated growth in urban areas leads to changes in landscapes causing fragmentation and loss of habitats, which are considered threats to biodiversity. Ecological corridors are strategies of potential contribution to biodiversity conservation that provide connectivity and gene flow between different species. One of the ways to identify areas with the potential to create ecological corridors is through Lower Cost Path Modeling (CMC). However, few studies on this subject use high-precision data. In this context, this work has as its main objective the modeling of lower cost paths in urban landscapes using laser data to model relief, treetops and air obstacles (buildings) in the south-central region of Belo Horizonte and north of Nova Lima (Minas Gerais, Brazil). The methodological proposal is based on the ecological characteristics of three groups of bird species (generalist, intermediate and sensitive), identified from a survey of occurrences in the study region and selected through predefined criteria. The use and land cover of the study area was modeled and fragments with the potential to represent the extremes of the lowest cost paths were identified through it. Through laser data, topography and air obstacles were mapped. In the proposal of the model, these variables had their "weights" defined by "expert knowledge", to generate a resistance matrix for each group of species by multicriteria analysis. The results of the modeling indicate that the paths total values close to 31 kilometers among the selected fragments, also present a proximity between the proposed corridors especially among the species of the sensitive and intermediate groups within the most urbanized region, while even by different routes, all three groups demonstrated movement capacity over the region of higher relief (above 1300m), possibly due to the presence of wood In this way, we can propose that the species of the specialist group are considered umbrella species for the others, serving as a guide for modeling ecological corridors. The methodological proposal proved to be potentially efficient for planning corridors of a certain group of species, being an important subsidy for public conservation policies.