Human disturbance is the major driver of vegetation changes in the Caatinga dry forest region.

ABSTRACT: Drastic changes in vegetation structure caused by exceeding ecological thresholds have fueled the interest in tropical forest responses to climate and land-use changes. Here, we examine the potential successional trajectories experienced by the largest dry tropical forest region in South America, driven by climate conditions and human disturbance. We built potential distribution models for vertebrate taxa associated with forest or shrub habitats to estimate natural vegetation cover. Distribution patterns were compared to current vegetation across the entire region to identify distinct forest degradation levels. Our results indicate the region has climatic and soil conditions suitable for more forest cover than is currently found, even in some areas with limited precipitation. However, 11.0

SUBMITTER: Araujo HFP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10611708 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature