Proposal of a sustainability indicator for forest fragments (SIFF) through environmental modeling

Abstract

Forest ecosystems are subject to various interferences that compromise their biodiversity and the availability of ecosystem services. Therefore, this study aimed to obtain a Sustainability Indicator for Forest Fragments (ISFF) applied to sub-basins. For this, a survey was made in the literature of the factors capable of characterizing the fragments and these were grouped into three variables: Conservation, anthropic and biophysical. It was found that most of the fragments have a sustainability considered medium (about 50%), with small and medium size prevailing. The proposed indicator proved to be satisfactory to determine the sustainability of forest fragments, as the sustainability considered very high was only found in large fragments, present in five sub-basins, while those of very low sustainability are characterized by being of small size. The SIFF allows it to be replicated in other watershed and proves to be efficient in identifying which measures are necessary for the maintenance of forest fragments, especially those that require greater attention. This contributes to promoting the environmental quality of inhabited spaces, as well as the quality of life for current and future generations.