Local ecological knowledge and perception as a strategy in the management of ecosystem services.

In designing and implementing initiatives to conserve biodiversity and ensure the flow of ecosystem services, it is crucial to understand the perspectives of communities living near protected areas. Improving conservation efforts may depend on analyzing socio-ecological factors and their impact on Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) and perceptions of ecosystem services. We employed participatory methodologies with 80 farmers from agrarian settlements adjacent to protected areas in the Cerrado biome, Brazil, we quantified LEK and assessed perceptions of ecosystem services using an adaptation of the Q-methodology. We collected data on thirteen socio-ecological variables, including age, gender, farm size, education, engagement with conservation initiatives, and interactions with protected areas and Legal Reserves. Using artificial intelligence in a Random Forest (RF) modelling approach, we identified the most influential variables on LEK and perceptions. Our findings demonstrate that engagement in nature conservation and restoration initiatives, along with the use of native areas (protected and managed areas) significantly influence LEK levels within the farmers' communities. Farmers with full participation, from conception to implementation and evaluation of the initiatives, had a significantly higher LEK level (28.5 ± 13.0) compared to farmers without participation in those initiatives (11.4 ± 5.9). Farmers who used the cerrado for leisure and education (28.2 ± 21.2) had significantly higher LEK levels compared to farmers who do not attend or use the cerrado areas (13.5 ± 8.9) and those using areas of native vegetation for cattle raising (12.8 ± 6.8). These results highlight that, in addition to farmers' participation in conservation and restoration initiatives, the sustainable use of natural areas is fundamental to strengthen their local knowledge of ecosystem functioning. Furthermore, we found that the type of agroecosystem present on farms strongly? shapes farmers' perceptions of ecosystem services. Farmers perceive different ecosystem services depending on land use, indicating the need for tailored interventions for the planning and management of conservation areas. Farmers practicing soybean monoculture had significantly lower perception scores on ecosystem services (-5.1 ± 3.8) than to the other four evaluated groups. Overall, the study highlights the critical role of incorporating local knowledge and perceptions for the design of effective management strategies to increase ecosystem services provision and biodiversity conservation in areas adjacent to protected areas.

Strong floristic distinctiveness across Neotropical successional forests.

Forests that regrow naturally on abandoned fields are important for restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services, but can they also preserve the distinct regional tree floras? Using the floristic composition of 1215 early successional forests (≤20 years) in 75 human-modified landscapes across the Neotropic realm, we identified 14 distinct floristic groups, with a between-group dissimilarity of 0.97. Floristic groups were associated with location, bioregions, soil pH, temperature seasonality, and water availability. Hence, there is large continental-scale variation in the species composition of early successional forests, which is mainly associated with biogeographic and environmental factors but not with human disturbance indicators. This floristic distinctiveness is partially driven by regionally restricted species belonging to widespread genera. Early secondary forests contribute therefore to restoring and conserving the distinctiveness of bioregions across the Neotropical realm, and forest restoration initiatives should use local species to assure that these distinct floras are maintained.