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Evaluation of forest landscape change and its impact on the distribution of Dipsas elegans in northern Ecuador

Abstract:

The Mira River basin in Ecuador has a high biodiversity. However, the intensive land-use has led to landscape changes and generated alterations in the distribution of species. This study evaluates the spatial patterns of the forest landscape and its impacts on the distribution of Dipsas elegans (Boulenger, 1986). Landsat satellite images of 1991, 2000, and 2017 have been used and landscape metrics have been generated for the evaluation of the forested landscape. Additionally, the analysis of the potential distribution of D. elegans has been performed using the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt). The results show a decrease in the forest cover of 235.726,96 ha (10,28%) and an annual deforestation rate of 0,44%. In addition, the native forest displays fragmentation due to the increase in the number of patches (1.249-1.741) and its density (0,23-0,33), because of agriculture advance and deforestation. D. elegans is mainly distributed in the middle basin, which is composed of native forest and other coverage with an area of 104.747 ha (19,6%). Habitat loss with respect to the distribution model accounts for 33.859,33 ha (32,32%), which shows that the species is susceptible to patch size reduction, edge, effects and habitat solation that threaten the specie´s presence.