Habitat Heterogeneity on a Forest-Savanna Ecotone in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park (Santa Cruz, Bolivia): Implications for the Long-Term Conservation of Biodiversity in a Changing Climate

Abstract

Noel Kempff National Park is a biological reserve in northeast Santa Cruz, Bolivia; the park is part of a regional setting that includes extractive forest reserves, cattle ranches, indigenous communities, and colonization zones. Future development and migration in the surrounding areas will have an effect on the conservation of the flora and fauna of this important protected area. The region incorporates five distinct ecosystems: humid upland forest, inundated and riparian forest, semi-deciduous and deciduous forest, upland savanna, and savanna wetland. The biodiversity of the park has been extensively studied with respect to species richness of individual habitats and the importance of habitat heterogeneity has been identified as the key factor in contributing to the overall levels of biodiversity (Killeen and Schulenberg 1998). There is no single ecosystem in Noel Kempff National Park that is “super diverse”; nonetheless, the total regional diversity (γ·diversity) is very high because all five ecosystems are distinct and are well represented on the landscape (Table 16.1).KeywordsHabitat HeterogeneityGallery ForestTermite MoundStable Carbon Isotope RatioForest IslandThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.