Corredores ecológicos potenciais na subbacia hidrográfica do córrego Horizonte, Alegre-ES, indicados por meio de SIG

Abstract

Connectivity between forest fragments through corridors has been identified as an important strategy to reverse the negative effects caused by forest defragmentation. This work aims to identify, through a geographic information system, possible routes for the implementation of wildlife corridors that facilitate the interconnection of the remaining forest fragments in the Horizonte stream subwatershed, Alegre, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Results indicate that the application of the GIS tool (ArcGIS 9.3 ®) was efficient to map wildlife corridors, interconnecting mapped forest fragments. Considering the routes, on the basis of the low-cost weights assigned, the ones that need smaller areas and cause less conflict of land use and land covering are: the wildlife corridor A, with 16.50 ha, linking mouth and an intermediate 1 forest fragments; wildlife corridor C, 22.13 ha, linking intermediate 1 and 2 forest fragments; and wildlife corridor E, with 28.19 ha, linking intermediate 2 and headboard forest fragments.