Extensification of Agricultural Land-Use Generates Severe Effects on the Critically Endangered Inter-Andean Dry Forest in the Ecuadorian Andean Landscape

Abstract

The Inter-Andean Dry Forest is one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. The extensification of anthropogenic land-use has transformed the Inter-Andean Dry Forest in the landscape of the Rio Chota watershed, Ecuador. However, there is no evaluation of the land use/land cover dynamics to determine the loss and recovery of this ecosystem. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the extensification of agricultural land-use on the spatial pattern of the Inter-Andean Dry Forest ecosystem and the state of the landscape in the RCW during the periods 1991-2000 and 2000-2017. The effects of land-use change on the spatial pattern of the Inter-Andean Dry Forest were evaluated at the landscape level using satellite images and landscape metrics. The loss of the Inter-Andean Dry Forest was 45 % from 1991 to 2017, at a deforestation rate of 2.3 % per year. The largest loss of forest (42.7 %) occurred from 2000 to 2017. From 1991 to 2000, the number of patches of Inter-Andean Dry Forest increased by 194 % but decreased by 64 % in 2017. Over the entire study period, the major change in the landscape was the conversion of the Inter-Andean Dry Forest to agriculture (36.7 %), which was related to important changes in the spatial patterns of this ecosystem. Inter-Andean Dry Forest loss and fragmentation were associated with the extensification of agricultural land-use. The Rio Chota watershed is a landscape increasingly transformed by human processes. This study provides baseline information on landscape structure and composition. This information could help make management decisions for the Inter-Andean Dry Forest in specific landscape areas.