Brazilian protected areas that are larger, older, and closer to urban areas are more studied by scientists

Abstract

The Brazilian System of Conservation Units is a federal law that plays a crucial role in the conservation of the Brazilian biodiversity, by legally regulating the protected areas (PAs). Many scientific studies and theories have been developed in Brazilian PAs, addressing their environmental, economic, social, and scientific importance. In this study, we performed a systematic mapping to evaluate what factors affect the number of scientific papers developed in PAs. We selected the following factors: number of papers per PA, the subject category of papers, area and age of PAs, distance to urban areas, and distance to other PAs. We found 2715 papers regarding 1563 Brazilian PAs published between 1991 and 2017, with significant growth in the number of publications over the years. We found a geographic bias at a national scale, where PAs that are larger, older, and closer to urban areas have the greatest number and diversity of papers These variables driver the research in Brazilian PA, nonetheless, approximately 90% of all PAs had less than five papers indicated the great number of PA with few papers Therefore, more investment is necessary to reduce the geographic bias and increase the number and diversity of papers in Brazilian PAs.