Financial expenditure as a criterion for choosing the most appropriate method for ecological corridor implementation

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Spatial Planning

Background:

• Urban expansion and human activities cause forest fragmentation, reducing landscape connectivity.
• Ecological corridors (ECs) are proposed solutions to mitigate fragmentation and enhance ecological flow.
• This study focuses on establishing an EC between PNMCBio and Flona Ipanema in Brazil.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the financial costs of land acquisition for an ecological corridor.
• To model ECs using LSCorridors software with different resistance surfaces.
• To identify the most cost-effective EC modeling approach for public managers.

Main Methods:

• Utilized LSCorridors for ecological corridor modeling based on land use and vegetation cover data from 2019.
• Generated four resistance surfaces: pixel-based measure (PM), minimum (LMmin), average (LMavg), and maximum (LMmax) landscape measures.
• Developed an information plan to estimate land acquisition costs using municipal maps.

Main Results:

• The PM approach identified ECs with 41.05% legally protected area.
• The PM approach yielded the lowest land acquisition cost, totaling R$487,476.16.
• Different resistance surfaces resulted in varying corridor configurations and costs.

Conclusions:

• The PM approach in LSCorridors is a cost-effective method for ecological corridor planning.
• Informed decision-making by public managers can be supported by this modeling approach.
• Optimizing public resource allocation is achievable through scientifically-backed corridor design.