Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
08/16/2012
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
British and Brazilian researchers say that small and isolated parts of the biome are losing species rapidly
Animals that live in isolated fragments of Atlantic forest areas larger are dying at a faster pace than previously thought, according to a study published on Tuesday.
"We found an alarming rate of local extinctions," said the British and Brazilian researchers in an article in PLoS ONE scientific site.
They visited 196 of the Atlantic forest fragments that were isolated because of the advanced cities, roads and agricultural fields.
Every single piece, with areas between 1 and 5,000 hectares, had on average only 4 of 18 species of mammals that were sought by scientists - animals like monkeys, marmosets and legs.
The jaws, for example, a kind of pork-eating fox, "were completely extinct, while ocelots, tapirs, giant anteaters, and spider monkeys were virtually extinct," the team said.
Previous estimates on the fauna of these isolated passages, based on the size of each fragment, predicted a higher survival of the animals, the study said. But those estimates understate persistent human factors, such as fires and hunting.
"This is bad news for conservation," he told Reuters Professor Carlos Peres of the University of East Anglia in Britain. Many animals, he said, disappeared even in forested areas that were considered large and intact.
According to Peres, the pace of the decline of fauna in the Atlantic might be happening in countries like Indonesia, Ghana and Madagascar.
The scientists say is necessary conservation efforts, and that the study showed an increased resistance of the fauna in five forest remnants protected as parks. "This study is a very large and positive endorsement for more protected areas," said Peres.
He also stated that there could be attempts to measure the economic value of forests, including them, for example, in the fight against climate change.
The living forests absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, and release this material when they burn or rot; between 12 and 20 percent of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities come from deforestation. The burning of fossil fuels accounts for most of the rest.
Nearly 200 countries are currently discussing ways to protect forests through a UN program called REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation), which would impose a price on carbon stored in trees in developing countries, including, for example, forests in carbon credit schemes.
Peres said that "degradation" in UN jargon refers primarily to logging, but should also include threats to wildlife. "My mission is to put the wildlife and biodiversity in the second D of REDD."
Source: Ig News
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.