Upland habitat loss as a threat to Pantanal wetlands.

Abstract

The fate of Pantanal, one of the world's largest, most pristine and diverse wetlands, stands in the balance. The most recent (2014) and comprehensive land-cover change assessment of the upper Paraguay River Basin (UPRB), comprising both lowlands (Pantanal floodplain) and their surrounding upland savannas (Cerrado plateaus), shows the extent of decline of native vegetation (Fig. 1). Around 80% of the Pantanal floodplain native vegetation remains (Fig. 1), and over 60% of its Cerrado plateaus have been converted into pasture and croplands (SOS-Pantanal et al. 2015). The most worrying aspect is the fast rate of land clearing during the last 30 years (Supporting Information). In fact, the Cerrado is experiencing higher native vegetation conversion rates than Amazon and Atlantic Forest ecosystems in recent years but is still largely unprotected (Overbeck et al. 2015).