Impactos potenciais na avifauna decorrentes das alterações propostas para o Código Florestal Brasileiro

Livestock in Riparian Areas: A Neglected Environmental Issue

The presence of livestock in riparian areas raises several questions about the conservation and sustainable use of water resources and biodiversity in Brazil. Although the Native Vegetation Protection Law (No. 12,651) focuses on riparian vegetation, protected as Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs), it does not exclude the presence of livestock in these fragile areas. Here, we provide an overview of APPs in Brazil and analyze the legal instruments that enable livestock in these areas, gathering the scientific evidence on associated environmental impacts. Currently, cattle in riparian areas represent a direct threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services, especially because these animals promote trampling, loss of vegetation, soil erosion, siltation, and pollution through urine and feces. To avoid cattle in APPs, legislation should be revised to implement more stringent restrictions; in parallel, alternatives for watering the animals must be sought, such as, for example, the installation of artificial ponds and drinking fountains. It would be appropriate to propose legislation or create incentives to fence livestock in pasture areas to preventing it from accessing APPs. Increasing cattle confinement is an alternative measure to traditional ranching in open pasture. Riparian zones represent a critical environment for biodiversity and society, so the presence of cattle and its associated negative impacts should be seriously considered by authorities.

Irrigation dams threaten Brazilian biodiversity

Brazil is among the main contributors to global biodiversity, which, in turn, provides extensive ecosystem services. Agriculture is an activity that benefits greatly from these ecosystem services, but at the same time is degrading aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and eroding Brazilian biodiversity. This conflict is growing, as emerging unsustainable legislative proposals that will benefit the agricultural sector are likely to accelerate the decline of biodiversity. One such initiative (Bill 1282/2019) would change Brazil's "Forest Code" (Law 12,651/2012) to facilitate construction of irrigation dams in Permanent Preservation Areas, a category that includes strips (with or without vegetation) along the edges of watercourses. Two other similar bills are advancing through committees in the Chamber of Deputies. Here we provide details of these three bills and discuss their consequences for Brazil's biodiversity if they are approved. Expected negative impacts with changes in the legislation include: increased deforestation; siltation; habitat fragmentation; introduction of non-native species; reduction in the availability of aquatic habitats; and changes in biogeochemical process. These proposals jeopardize biodiversity and may compromise the negotiations for an agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.

The effects of oil palm plantations on the functional diversity of Amazonian birds

Oil palm plantations are rapidly expanding in tropical areas, although the nature of the impacts on the functional roles of the different species in the ecosystem is poorly understood. The present study is the first assessment of how oil palm affects the functional diversity of birds in the Brazilian Amazon and tests the hypothesis that converting forest to oil palm decreases functional diversity of bird communities, selecting species more tolerant to environmental disturbances. We conducted point counts to survey bird communities in 16 plots in the eastern Amazon. We sampled 32 points in riparian forest, 128 in oil palm and 160 in forested habitats. To test whether the conversion of forest into oil palm plantations affects functional diversity of birds we calculated the FD (Functional Diversity) and FRic (Functional Richness) indices. To examine whether oil palm plantations select species functionally more similar than expected by chance we used a null model (SES.FD). FD was significantly higher in the forest plots in comparison with riparian forests and oil palm, and lower in oil palm when compared with riparian forests. FRic, in turn, was greater in forest plots than in oil palm and in riparian forest. These results show that the conversion of forested areas to oil palm represents a great loss of functional strategies. The SES values indicate that in forested habitats bird communities tend to be functionally clustered while in the oil palm they are functionally overdispersed. The functional traits most affected by oil palm were those associated with diet and foraging stratum. In short, oil palm plantations reduced functional diversity of birds, although the presence of riparian forests within the plantations and the fragments of forest adjacent are extremely important for the maintenance of ecosystem services.