Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

Temporal patterns of deforestation and fragmentation in lowland Bolivia: implications for climate change

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The lowlands of eastern and northeastern Bolivia are characterized by a transition between the humid evergreen forests of the Amazon Basin and the deciduous thorn-scrub vegetation of the Gran Chaco. Within this landscape lies one of the world’s best preserved areas: the ecoregion known as the Chiquitano dry forest, where deforestation patterns over a 30 year period were analyzed. Results indicate that the area of the natural cover was reduced from 97.21 % before 1976 to 82.10 % in 2008, causing significant change in the landscape, especially in the spatial configuration of forest cover. The density of forest fragments increased from 0.073 patches per 100 ha before 1976 to 0.509 in 2008, with a mean distance between patches of 151 and 210 m over the same period, leading to a considerable reduction in the fragment sizes, from 1,204 ha before 1976 to a mere 54 in 2008. This pattern, observed in forests, does not occur in the savannas because, on one hand the savanna area is much lower compared to that of forests, and on the other because the deforestation process tended to be concentrated within forested areas. Based on the observed patterns, it is possible that in the future the natural landscapes will be substituted principally by anthropic landscapes, if there is no change in the economic and land distribution policies. If this process continues, it will stimulate the expansion of mechanized agriculture and the colonization of new areas, which will lead to further deforestation and landscape fragmentation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

References

  • Achard F, Eva HD, Stibig HJ, Mayaux P, Gallego J, Richards T, Malingreau JP (2002) Determination of deforestation rates of the world’s humid tropical forests. Science 297:999–1002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen LE, Mamani R (2009) Cambio climático en Bolivia hasta el 2100: síntesis de costos y oportunidades. ERECC-SA, CEPAL. 41 p

  • Angelsen A (2007) Forest cover change in space and time: combining the von Thünen and forest transition theories. World Bank Research Working Paper 4117. World Bank, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Berbet MLC, Heil M (2003) Climate change after tropical deforestation: seasonal variability of surface albedo and its effects on precipitation change. J Clim 16:2099–2104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bethell L (2008) The Cambridge history of Latin America: Latin America since 1930 spanish South America. Vol. 8. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, p 883

  • Bucher EH, Huszar PC (1999) Sustainable management of the Gran Chaco of South America: ecological promise and economic constraints. J Environ Manag 57:99–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camacho O, Cordero W, Martínez I, Rojas D (2001) Tasa de deforestación del Departamento de Santa Cruz 1993–2000. Superintendencia Forestal, BOLFOR. Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. 43 p

  • Dale VH (1997) The relationship between land-use change and climate change. Ecol Appl 7:753–769

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dale VH, Brown S, Haeuber RA, Hobbs NT, Huntly N, Naiman RJ, Riebsame WE, Turner MG, Valone TJ (2000) Ecological principles and guidelines for managing the use of land. Ecol Appl 10(3):639–670

    Google Scholar 

  • De Jong B, Ochoa-Gaona S, Castillo-Santiago M, Ramirez-Marcial N, Carins A (2000) Carbon flux and patterns of land-use/land-cover change in the Selva Lacandona, Mexico. Ambio 29(8):504–511

    Google Scholar 

  • Dirmeyer PA, Shukla J (1994) Albedo as a modulator of climate response to tropical deforestation. J Geophys Res 99:20863–20877

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dirzo R, Garcia M (1992) Rates of deforestation in Los Tuxlas, a Neotropical area in southeast México. Conserv Biol 6(1):91–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eltahir EAB (1996) Role of vegetation in sustaining large-scale atmospheric circulations in the tropics. J Geophys Res 101:4255–4268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (1995) Potential impacts of climate change on natural forest and forestry in Brazilian Amazonia. For Ecol Manag 78:51–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (2000) Global warming and tropical land use change: greenhouse gas emissions from biomass burning, decomposition and soils in forest conversion, shifting cultivation and secondary vegetation. Clim Chang 46:115–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM, Laurance WF (2004) Tropical deforestation and greenhouse-gas emissions. Ecol Appl 14(4):982–986

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gascon C, Lovejoy TE, Malcom JR (1999) Matrix habitat and species richness in tropical forest remnants. Biol Conserv 91:223–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gavier GI, Bucher EH (2004) Deforestación de las Sierras Chicas de Córdoba (Argentina) en el período 1970–1997. Miscelánea Nº 101. Academia Nacional de Ciencias (Córdoba)

  • Grau HR, Gasparri NI, Aide TM (2005) Agriculture expansion and deforestation in seasonally dry forest of north-west Argentina. Environ Conserv 32(2):140–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansen MC, Stehman SV, Potapov PV, Arunarwati B, Stolle F, Pittman K (2009) Quantifying changes in the rates of forest clearing in Indonesia from 1990 to 2005 using remotely sensed data sets. Environ Res Lett 4:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Hecht S (2005) Soybeans, development and conservation on the Amazon frontier. Dev Chang 36(2):375–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton RA, Skole DL, Nobre CA, Hacler JL, Lawrence KT, Chomentowski WH (2000) Annual fluxes of carbon from deforestation and regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon. Nature 403:301–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huszar PC (1999) Justification for using soil conservation incentives. In: Sanders DW, Huszar PC, Sombatpanit S, Enters T (eds) Incentives in soil conservation: from theory to practice. Science Publishers, Enfield, pp 57–68

    Google Scholar 

  • INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística) (2005) Atlas estadístico de municipios: Bolivia un mundo de potencialidades. MDSP, COSUDE, PNUD, La Paz, 697 p

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2001) Climate change 2001: the scientific basis. Cambridge University Press

  • Kaimowitz D, Mendez P, Puntodewo A, Vanclay J (2002) Spatial regression analysis of deforestation in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. In: Wood CH, Porro R (eds) Land use and deforestation in the Amazon. University Press of Florida, pp. 41–65

  • Kates RW, Clark WC, Norberg-Bohm V, Turner II BL (1990) Human sources of global change: a report on priority research initiatives for 1990–1995. Discussion paper G-90-08. Global Environmental Policy Project, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

  • Killeen TJ, Jardim A, Mamini FM, Rojas N, Saravia P (1998) Diversity, composition, and structure of atropical semideciduous forest in the Chiquitanía region of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. J Trop Ecol 14:803–827

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killeen TJ, Chavez E, Peña-Claros M, Toledo M, Arroyo L, Caballero J, Correa L, Guilleén R, Quebedo R, Saldías M, Soria L, Uslar Y, Vargas I, Steininger M (2006) The Chiquitano dry forest, the transition between humid and dry forest in Eastern Lowland Bolivia. In: Pennington (ed) Neotropical savannas and seasonally dry forests plant diversity biogeography and conservation. CRC Press, England, pp 213–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Killeen TJ, Calderon V, Soria L, Quezada B, Steininger MK, Harper G, Solorzano LA, Tucker CJ (2007) Thirty years of land-cover change in Bolivia. Ambio 36(7):600–606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killeen TJ, Guerra A, Calzadilla M, Correa L, Calderón V, Soria L, Quezada B, Steininger MK (2008) Total historical land-use change in eastern Bolivia: who, where, when, and how much? Ecol Soc 13(1):36

    Google Scholar 

  • Laurance WF, Bierregaard RO Jr (1997) Tropical forest remnants: ecology, management, and conservation of fragmented Communities. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 528 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Laverty MF, Gibbs JP (2007) Ecosystem loss and fragmentation. Lessons Conserv 1:72–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawton RO, Nair US, Pielke RA, Welch RM (2001) Climatic impact of tropical lowland deforestation on nearby montane cloud forests. Science 294:584–587

    Google Scholar 

  • Lord JM, Norton DA (1990) Scale and the spatial concept of fragmentation. Conserv Biol 4:197–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahlman JD (1997) Uncertainties in projections of human caused climate warming. Science 278:1416–1417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGarigal K, Romme WH, Crist M, Roworth E (2001) Cumulative effects of roads and logging on landscape structure in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado (USA). Landsc Ecol 16:327–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mertens B, Kaimowitz D, Puntodewo A, Vanclay J, Mendez P (2004) Modeling deforestation at distinct geographic scales and time periods in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Int Reg Sci Rev 27(3):271–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer WB, Turner BL II (1994) Changes in land use and land cover: a global perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller R, Müller D, Scheirhorn F, Gerold G (2010) Spatiotemporal modeling of the expansion of mechanized agriculture in Bolivia. Appl Geogr 31(2):631–640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulligan M (2000) Downscaled climate change scenarios for Colombia and their hydrological consequences. Adv Environ Monit Model 1(1):3–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Murcia C (1995) Edge effects in fragmented forests: implications for conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 10(2):58–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naughton-Treves L (2004) Deforestation and carbon emissions at tropical frontiers: a case study from the Peruvian amazon. World Dev 32(1):173–190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nepstad D, Carvalho G, Barros A, Alencar A, Capobianco J, Bishop J, Moutinho P, Lefebvre P, Lopes SU, Prins E (2001) Road paving, fire regime feedbacks, and the future of Amazon forests. For Ecol Manag 154:395–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nouvellon Y, Bégué A, Moran MS, Seen DL, Rambal S, Luquet D, Chehbouni G, Inoue Y (2000) PAR extinction in shortgrass ecosystems: effects of clumping, sky conditions and soil albedo. Agric For Meteoroly 105:21–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill RV, Hunsaker CT, Timmins SP, Jackson BL, Jones KB, Riitters KH, Wickham JD (1996) Scale problems in reporting landscape pattern at the regional scale. Landsc Ecol 11:169–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pacheco P (1998) Estilos de desarrollo, deforestación y degradación de los bosques en las tierras bajas de Bolivia. Centro para los estudios laboral y agrario. La Paz. 376 pp

  • Pacheco P (2006) Agricultural expansion and deforestation in the lowlands Bolivia: the import substitution versus the structural adjustment model. Land Use Policy 23:205–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pacheco P, Mertens B (2004) Land use change and agricultural development in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Boit et Forests des Tropiques 280(2):29–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Pimm SL, Ayres M, Balmford A, Branch G, Brandon K, Brooks T, Bustamante R, Costanza R, Cowling R, Curran LM, Dobson A, Farber S, da Fonseca GAB, Gascon C, Kitching R, McNeely J, Lovejoy T, Mittermeier RA, Myers N, Patz JA, Raffle B, Rapport D, Raven P, Roberts C, Rodríguez JP, Rylands AB, Tucker C, Safina C, Samper C, Stiassny MLJ, Supriatna J, Wall DH, Wilcove D (2001) Can we defy nature’s end? Science 293:2207–2208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinto-Ledezma JN, Ruiz T (2010) Deforestación y fragmentación 1976–2006 en el municipio de San Julián (Santa Cruz, Bolivia). Ecología en Bolivia 45(2):101–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Prado DE (2000) Seasonally dry forests of tropical South America: from forgotten ecosystems to a new phytogeographic unit. Edinb J Bot 57:437–461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prado DE, Gibbs PE (1993) Patterns of species distributions in the dry seasonal forests of South America. Ann Mo Bot Gard 80:902–927

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seiler Ch (2009) Implementation and validation of a regional climate model for Bolivia. Friends of Nature Foundation, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. 38 p

  • Skole D, Tucker CJ (1993) Tropical deforestation and habitat fragmentation in the Amazon: satellite data from 1978 to 1988. Science 260:1905–1910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Avery KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds) (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Southworth J, Cumming GS, Marsik M, Binford MW (2006) Linking spatial and temporal variation at multiple scales in a heterogeneous landscape. Prof Geogr 58(4):406–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spies TA, Ripple WJ, Bradshaw GA (1994) Dynamics and pattern in management coniferous forest landscape in Oregon. Ecol Appl 4:555–568

    Google Scholar 

  • Staus N, Strittholt J, Dellasala D, Robinson R (2002) Rate and pattens of forest disturbance in the Klamath-Siskiyou ecorregión, USA, between 1972 and 1992. Landsc Ecol 17: 455–470

    Google Scholar 

  • Steininger MK, Tucker CJ, Ersts P, Killeen TJ, Villegas Z, Hetcht SB (2001) Clearence and fragmentation of tropical deciduous forest in the Tierras Bajas, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Conserv Biol 15:856–866

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson RT, Zinyowera MC, Moss RH (eds) (1997) The regional impacts of climate change: an assessment of vulnerability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson RT, Noble IR, Bolin B, Ravindranath NH, Verardo DJ, Dokken DJ (2000) Land use, land-use change, and forestry. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the reviewers for their contributions. We thank Alex E. Jahn and Daniel Villarroel for helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. We are also grateful to the Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado for sharing their extensive data set on deforestation. This manuscript was funded by the CNPq fellowship EXP-C (Projeto Sinergia-nº6 do CTHidro) to JNPL.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecología, Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado, Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno, Av. Irala 565, CC. 2489, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

    Jesús N. Pinto-Ledezma & Mary Laura Rivero Mamani

  2. Carreras de Biología y Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno, El Vallecito Km. 9 carretera al Norte, CC. 702, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

    Jesús N. Pinto-Ledezma

Authors
  1. Jesús N. Pinto-Ledezma
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mary Laura Rivero Mamani
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jesús N. Pinto-Ledezma.

Additional information

This article is part of a Special Issue on "Climate change and adaptation in tropical basins" edited by Pierre Girard, Craig Hutton, and Jean-Phillipe Boulanger.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(DOCX 28 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pinto-Ledezma, J.N., Rivero Mamani, M.L. Temporal patterns of deforestation and fragmentation in lowland Bolivia: implications for climate change. Climatic Change 127, 43–54 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0817-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0817-1

Keywords

Profiles

  1. Jesús N. Pinto-Ledezma View author profile