Profile of atlantic forest remnants with red-billed curassow records

Abstract

Assessing the effects of land use change on biodiversity has become a key issue for species conservation. Thus, it is necessary to analyze the configuration and composition of the landscape where a species occurs. The objective was to draw a profile of the forest remnants of the Atlantic Forest located in the south of Bahia state that present current and historical records of Crax blumenbachii. We analyzed fourteen areas using different spatial scales (patch scale, 500 m, 1 and 2 km) to calculate the total distance and distance from roads and rivers to the edge of the patch, percentage of area occupied by: forest, forest with cabrucas, cabrucas, pasture and agriculture; density of fragments and the proximity of these fragments to the edge of each patch, the area occupied by houses and their distance to the edge of the patch. We selected the 2 km scale to best describe the configuration and composition of the landscape. There are two profiles of areas with records of red-billed curassows: (1) areas with more forested landscapes, rivers and roads, low pasture/agriculture, and near human settlements, and (2) areas distant from houses, near roads and forest fragments. These features are related to areas with recent or historic records of red-billed curassows, and do not necessarily reflect habitat quality for the species.