Abstract
The built environment, defined as all human-made infrastructure, is increasing to fulfill the demand for human settlements, productive systems, mining, and industries. Due to the profound direct and indirect impacts that the built environment produces on natural ecosystems, it is considered a major driver of land change and biodiversity loss, and a major component of global environmental change. In South America, a global producer of minerals and agricultural commodities, and a region with many biodiversity hotspots, infrastructure expanded considerably between 2001 and 2011. This expansion occurred mainly in rural areas, towns, and sprawling suburban areas that were not previously developed. Herein, we characterized the areas of major infrastructure expansion between 2001 and 2011 in South America. We used nighttime light data, land use maps, and socio-economic and environmental variables to answer the following questions: (1) Where are the hotspots of infrastructure expansion located? and (2) What combination of socio-economic and environmental variables are associated with infrastructure expansion? Hotspots of infrastructure expansion encompass 70% (337,310 km2) of the total infrastructure expansion occurring between 2001 and 2011 across South America. Urban population and economic growth, mean elevation, and mean road density were the main variables associated with the hotspots, grouping them into eight clusters. Furthermore, within the hotspots, woody vegetation increased around various urban centers, and several areas showed a large increase in agriculture. Investments in large scale infrastructure projects, and the expansion and intensification of productive systems (e.g., agriculture and meat production) play a dominant role in the increase of infrastructure across South America. We expect that under the current trends of globalization and land changes, infrastructure will continue increasing and expanding into no-development areas and remote places. Therefore, to fully understand the direct and indirect impacts of land use change in natural ecosystems studies of infrastructure need to expand to areas beyond cities. This will provide better land management alternatives for the conservation of biodiversity as well as peri-urban areas across South America.
Highlights
Human settlements, agriculture, and livestock production systems, as well as extractive activities have been increasing across the world [1,2,3,4]
We identified 20,573 hexagons with statistically significant high values of infrastructure expansion, which were aggregated into 206 areas of major infrastructure expansion (Figure S2)
The hotspots included four very large continuous areas in NE Brazil, SE Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina, some large hotspots in Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina, and several medium to small hotspots dispersed across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and Suriname
Summary
Agriculture, and livestock production systems, as well as extractive activities have been increasing across the world [1,2,3,4] This situation is noteworthy in developing countries where a rapid expansion of urban areas has occurred [5], and the exploitation of natural resources is reaching remote places [6]. The increase in these human activities is a response to a growing human population coupled with an increase in per capita consumption of goods and commodities [7]. National policies and international investments in large-scale development projects have contributed to the increase of different human activities [4,8]. Infrastructure, which can be broadly defined as the built environment, has increased as a direct or indirect result of human activities [9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
