Geossistemas e corredores ecológicos em Juiz de Fora (MG): o papel das conectividades no planejamento ambiental

Abstract

The biomes that make up the so-called Atlantic Forest, fundamentally the forest ones, are among those alteration processes throughout their environmental history, currently exhibiting a highly fragmented condition, despite the regeneration processes verified in some localities and regions. Based on this problem, the present dissertation assumes the objective of proposing ecological corridors for the municipality of Juiz de Fora (MG) from the mosaics that currently make up the structure of the landscape, combining the geosystemic approach and the ecology of the landscape as a theoretical substrate- methodological. The geosystemic bases supported a mapping of geosystems typologies and the interpretation of the horizontal structure of the landscape, while the bases brought from the landscape ecology gave the methodological contribution for the quantification of metric elements of the fragments, emphatically regarding their areolar dimensions, shape and detachment. The municipality of Juiz de Fora bases its urban fabric extensively on the Graben of the Paraibuna River, with more recent occupation in the polyconvex hills that characterize the geomorphological organization of the Zona da Mata in Minas Gerais, and still protects a series of forest fragments of different sizes, shapes and degrees of proximity to each other. Undoubtedly, such structural organization resulted in two classes of facies differentiated according to the predominance of anthropo-natural and anthropogenic structures, both aggregating 21 groups of facies, a geosystemic unit that proved to be quite adherent to the configuration of the mosaics. The aforementioned groups differentially aggregate the forest fragments in terms of size, shape and distance, resulting in different perspectives of connectivity, with greater potential in areas with predominance of anthropogenic structures, and with more obstacles in areas with a predominance of anthropogenic structures, notably the graben of the Paraibuna River and built-in urbanized hills, which determine the main obstacles to the implementation of ecological corridors. For Juiz de Fora, continuities were proposed that can be implemented from corridors in preexisting mosaics, which form more functional circuits in the northern and southern portions of the municipality, intercepted by a gap in the central part where connectivity is less adequate. Still, the municipal territory can be differentiated according to a zoning elaborated from the perspectives of connectivity found, in turn defined from the structure of the landscape and the metrics of the existing forest fragments. Differentiation of areas into zones are important tools for environmental planning, thus suggesting the replication of methodological paths adopted for similar mosaic landscapes and providing important spatial information for programs aimed at ecological restoration based on the reconfiguration of mosaics.