Emberizidae species richness and conservation conflicts in the Brazilian Cerrado - DOI: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v30i1.1453

Abstract

Several variables have been used to indicate conflicts between socioeconomic interests and biodiversity conservation. Thus, efforts to minimize biodiversity losses are being based on the analysis of such conflicts, since there is more and more evidence that important sites to conservation could support high population densities and their impacts. However, in the Cerrado this might not be true due to the technological progress associated with human settlement. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to verify whether human population density (H) revealed conservation conflicts in the Cerrado. Through multiple regressions of Emberizidae richness (spilt into three groups according to their occurrence) as a biodiversity index and land-use variables, we verified that human population density was not the best indicator of conservation conflicts. Modern agriculture and cattle ranching indexes were the best indicators for the three Emeberizidae groups. Thus, the use of H as model selection to designate conservation units can be a mistake for Emberizidae species richness. In the Cerrado region, variables linked to modern agriculture and cattle ranching should be taken into account during systematic conservation planning