Forest loss and forest restoration in the Brazilian Amazon. An overview and applied studies in Paragominas (Pará)

Abstract

The Brazilian Amazon has the largest tropical forest that holds the greatest biodiversity in the world. There is a strong link between the country’s economic development and the exploitation of its natural resources, which have resulted in a significant forest and biodiversity loss. The general objective of this Thesis was to evaluate the potential for forest restoration to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Brazilian Amazon. The Thesis has originated four scientific publications. The first one provides an overview of forest loss, on one side, and projects, techniques, and publications on the recovery of degraded areas in the region, on the other side. After the loss of one fifth of the original forest extent, there has been an attempt to halt deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. We identified 405 restoration projects, but we noticed a small number of high-quality scientific publications. The second publication evaluates vulnerability to soil erosion. The studied municipality (Paragominas) has a low soil vulnerability in its most part (77%), and only 3% of it was estimated as of high soil vulnerability. The third publication evaluates the outcomes of two contrasting forest restoration techniques by monitoring indicators in postmining areas. Both techniques provided good recovery outcomes, although some indicators attained higher levels than others. The fourth publication assess tree composition, functional types, effect of distance between restored sites and seed sources, and the conservation status of established tree species under different forest restoration techniques (namely seedling planting, natural regeneration, and nucleation) implemented in post-mining sites. A substantial amount of tree biodiversity was recovered in these sites, but the techniques differed in specific outcomes. In short, our results are in agreement with the starting hypothesis that the Brazilian Amazon has undergone severe deforestation and, concomitantly, offers outstanding opportunities for forest restoration that will enhance biodiversity and provide benefits to humans.