@phdthesis{RodriguezZumbado2020, type = {Master Thesis}, author = {Jos{\´e} Andr{\´e}s Rodr{\´i}guez Zumbado}, title = {The Pacuare Reserve Landscape: land cover change and implications for biodiversity conservation in Costa Rica}, url = {https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:832-epub4-15949}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Habitat loss due to land use and land cover change (LUCC) has been identified as the main cause of global environmental change, responsible for biodiversity decline and the deterioration of ecological processes. Habitat loss and fragmentation have been driven by processes of LUCC such as deforestation, agricultural expansion and intensification, urbanization, and globalization. The objective of this research was to determine the effects of LUCC on the process of habitat loss and the patterns of fragmentation in the surrounding landscape of the Pacuare Reserve (PR) in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. The PR is a protected area of 800 ha surrounded by an agricultural landscape with a history of over 150 years of bananas monocultures. Landsat satellite images from 1978 to 2020 were used to conduct a temporal analysis of LUCC around the PR. Patterns of change were explored using landscape metrics from the land classification images. To explore potential connectivity routes, the least cost path analysis was used to connect the PR to other protected areas. Overall, forest cover decreased in the study area at a rate of -4.8\% per year during the period of 1992-1997. In the year 2001 it reached its lowest cover and then increased at a mean annual rate of 1.6\%. A mean overall accuracy of 92\% was obtained for the land classification process. A clear fragmentation process was observed, as shown by a decreased in forest mean patch area and largest patch index and by the increase in patch density. Although forest cover increased in the last decade, fragmentation metrics suggest this recover happened in a spatially scattered manner, due to agricultural land abandonment. Connectivity maps showed the importance of forest fragments and of the already established biological corridors for the movement of species to and from the PR, however it also evidenced the lack of connectivity between the coastal forest fragments and further inside the country located protected areas, as well as the need to promote reforestation projects, particularly between fragments of the corridors identified.}, language = {en} }