Forest Research: Open Access
Open Access

Navigating Forest Dynamics: Insights for Restoration and Preservation in the Atlantic Forest Hotspot

Maurício Vancine^{* *}Correspondence: Maurício Vancine, Department of Environmental Science and Natural Resources, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, Email:

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Description

Supporting small and large-scale forest restoration projects requires an understanding of the dynamics of fragmented forests in one of the most vulnerable parts of the Atlantic forest, given the present needs for biodiversity protection and climate mitigation. Using temporal and spatial characteristics, they are categorized and quantified into forest cover and linked it to the agents that caused it. The artificial land uses have a detrimental impact on the spontaneous natural regeneration process that occurs in protected areas, abandoned regions, and close to the hydrographic network. As a result, although if the amount of forest cover increased over time, considerable and medium-sized portions of old-growth forests were lost as a result of the spread of urban infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in flat areas and close to watercourses. The majority of the growth was made up of small, young woods in protected and deserted places, particularly those close to watercourses. The closeness of the forest to the municipal administrative centers explains its stability.

This study clarifies the dynamics of forest patches in an area of the Atlantic forest that is seriously threatened. It showed that little pieces of young forest had replaced large and medium-sized mature forest parts. Our findings thus highlight the importance of keeping an eye on forest stability, preventing forest loss, and providing incentives for forest growth in order to conserve ecosystem services and biodiversity.

A large portion of terrestrial biodiversity on earth is found in forests, which also offer a variety of ecological services and improve human well-being. But large tracts of forest have been modified, so there is a shift from wooded areas to man-made areas. As a result, almost two thirds of the planet's original vegetation has already undergone radical transformation.

At the moment, land transitions happen in the tropics more quickly than anywhere else. The conversion of tropical forest landscapes into agricultural and urban landscapes is fueled by the population's fast increase and the growing need for land. Plant suppression and fragmentation processes change the way the landscape is organized, weaken the connections between surviving portions, and jeopardize species migration, which leads to genetic deprivation, a decline in biodiversity, and long-term harm to the structure of forests. Furthermore, there is an imbalance between forest regeneration and suppression, which has a big impact on biomass and biodiversity. With the present needs for sustainable forest management and forest restoration to counteract climate change, understanding tropical forest dynamics at the landscape scale is a major challenge.

In biodiversity hotspots-terrestrial locations with high species richness and endemism-forest conversion is especially important. Hotspots are found mostly in tropical developing nations and include important forest ecosystems that are under a lot of human pressure. As one of the world's top five biodiversity hotspots, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest is currently being prioritized for preservation of ecosystem services and biodiversity. The Atlantic forest now only has 12%-28% of its original covering left after suffering severe losses over time. It is extremely difficult to maintain and restore connection within the Atlantic Forest hotspot, especially in areas where natural ecosystems are being rapidly replaced by anthropogenic land uses. Environmental policies have been directly impacted by concerns about the loss of ecosystem services, which has resulted in the creation of bold agreements like the Glasgow Climate Pact, the Paris Agreement, the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact, and the National Plan for Native Vegetation Recovery. Previous investigations of forest loss and recovery through temporal and spatial variables and their relationship with their causative agents are necessary for smalland large-scale forest restoration programs through global and local public policies. Finding accessible places with a high potential for resilience and connectedness is also essential to achieving the aims of forest conservation and restoration. In order to accomplish the desired results, spatial interactions and forest succession can support forest restoration and make use of both natural and man-made spatial drivers. Relief and occupation vectors, such as places with agricultural crops and pasture and closeness to urban centers, rivers, and highways, have been identified to be significant drivers of forest loss in earlier studies conducted in the Atlantic forest. Conversely, forest gain is impacted by areas of land abandoned due to steep slopes, being close to bodies of water, and the presence of forest fragments outside of topographic positions and solar radiation.