Assessing Ecosystem Integrity in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest to Indicate Biodiversity Loss and Highlight Areas for Adaptation Policies

Abstract

Ecosystem integrity (EI) may be defined as an equilibrium state of a given natural system able to self-regulate throughout many functional processes. The concept of biodiversity is quite diverse, and it is related to different levels of biological systems ranging from the level of genes, species taxonomic richness to functional groups. In this way, depending on the approach, several indicators, conceptually unrelated, can be used to characterize and quantify the biodiversity of a given natural system. However, in practical terms, the biodiversity, as a characteristic of ecosystems, is an indicator of the ecosystem´s stage regarding its pristine conditions. Then, Ecosystem Integrity has emerged as an important indicator to assess the relationship between biodiversity loss and the impacts on ecosystem services in tropical forests, once EI represents a connection between biodiversity and the ability of ecosystems to maintain the self-organization process. The objective of this chapter is to present a methodological approach developed for generating an Ecosystem Integrity index at regional scale, for different phyto-physiognomies patterns of landscapes, using a probabilistic model based on Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN), and totally free web-available satellite products. The methodology was applied to Brazil’s Legal Amazon region. The results show that it is possible to quantify areas of the Amazon rainforest with high or low Ecosystem Integrity. Using the same Bayesian network, with updated satellite data, it becomes possible to monitor the EI over time, and may even serve to establish a monitoring protocol and planning of mitigation/adaptation procedures.