Restoration Strategies to Improve Animal Movement in the Atlantic Forest

Habitat loss and fragmentation are leading causes of biodiversity decline worldwide. Animals sensitive to fragmentation suffer from decreased dispersal, breeding opportunities, and genetic diversity, making them vulnerable to extinction. Over the last decades the Atlantic Forest of Brazil has been extremely fragmented, with only 11-16% of forest remaining. Fortunately, ecological restoration is occurring throughout Brazil. Using computer modelling, I investigated how alternative restoration strategies improve the functional connectivity of the landscape. I used lion-tamarins of Southern Bahia, Brazil as a case study. I imposed three restoration strategies, Landowner Focused, Biodiversity Focused, and Random, on each of six sample landscapes, and five amounts of restoration (0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%). I found both restoration strategy and amount had a significant effect on connectivity. Landowner and Biodiversity Focused strategies were significantly better at increasing connectivity than the Random strategy, and greater restoration amounts resulted in greater connectivity.M.Sc.2020-02-28 00:00:0