CONECTIVIDADE ESTRUTURAL E FUNCIONAL DA PAISAGEM RIPÁRIA DOS RIOS PITANGUI, SÃO JORGE E SÃO JOÃO, NO SEGUNDO PLANALTO PARANAENSE

Abstract

Landscape Ecology aims to the global understanding of the landscape and land use planning, also integrating social sciences, geophysical and biological one. Along water courses the marginal portions influenced by periodic flooding represent highly dynamic environments and landscape studies consider their classes as landscape elements. This three-dimensional and transitional space between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems is the riparian zone. Thus, this study intends to analyze the structural and functional connectivity in the riparian landscape of Pitangui, S. Jorge, and S. João rivers in the Second Paraná Plateau. By means of geoprocessing the images for landscape analysis were performed in Guidos 1.3 and 2.0 Fragstats softwares. The classification of landscape elements considered core areas, edges, corridors, branchs and islands. Pitangui River has 500.23 ha distributed in 243 riparian forest patches (FR), where 71.09 ha were 195 patches of hydrophilic vegetation (VH), and 173.04 ha were 132 patches of mesophilic vegetation (VM). São Jorge River has 101.31 ha in 117 FR patches, 51.14 ha were 150 VH patches, and 81.24 were related to 82 VM patches. São João River has 180.47 ha distributed in 71 FR patches, 36.24 ha in 143 VH patches, and 28.6 in 30 VM patches. In the three rivers there are a large number of small patches and few relatively large areas tending to elongate irregular shapes. Relating to the functional analysis, the São Jorge FR is the most deprived of nuclear areas. All the three rivers VH have very little cartographic nuclear area although the VM Pitangui was the largest cartographic nuclear area. All the riparian metacommunities of the three rivers evolved were naturally fragmented. So, vegetation bands along the rivers act as ecological corridors to the riparian metacommunities.