Functional connectivity across dominant forest ecosystems in Ecuador: A major challenge for a country with a high deforestation rate

Ecuador is one of the countries with the highest deforestation rate in South America, despite being one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. However, there is a lack of information concerning the harmful spatial and temporal effects of deforestation on fragmentation and the connectivity lost. The objective of this research was to study the changes in deforestation (land-use changes), fragmentation patterns, and the functional connectivity of the forests of continental Ecuador between 1990 and 2018. Different land cover layers provided by the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment were employed, and deforestation and fragmentation were analyzed by overlaying these layers in GIS systems. Functional connectivity for generic species with a dispersion of 5 km was calculated using Graphab at global and on patch scales. The results showed that Ecuador lost 21,263 km2 of forest (transformed mainly into agricultural land) during the study period, thus losing connectivity and increasing fragmentation, with the coastal region being that most affected. Global connectivity decreased by between 25% and 13.69% during the 28-year period, depending on the metric analyzed. Corridors varied over time, thus showing that a more permeable matrix and scattered but connectable patches are essential to increase ecosystems connectivity. Although global connectivity is a fundamental factor as regards ensuring the persistence of ecosystems, it is not always being considered for either conservation or reforestation plans in Ecuador. As this work shows, the identification of corridors and their further conservation could be essential as regards maintaining global connectivity.