PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 2: Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Monday, August 8, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 513 C, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal
Land use, environmental gradients and vegetation biodiversity patterns in the BOSAWAS Bioreserve, Nicaragua.
Lugo, Aurora*,, Camilo, Gerardo,
ABSTRACT- Many natural areas, although protected, are being affected by external environmental as well as socio-economic pressures. This is the case of the BOSAWAS Biosphere reserve in Nicaragua. BOSAWAS is the largest (ca. 8,000 km2) contiguous rainforest north of Amazonia. Presently, two indigenous groups live in the reserve and depend on its natural resources. In order to provide the indigenous people with information to better manage the use of the reserve, we used remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) to determine if the current land use pattern is reflected in the historical data, or if the biodiversity data is better explained by environmental gradients. We gathered RS images spanning over twenty years and plant biodiversity data for over thirty localities. Data was analyzed with spatially constrained gradient analysis. Preliminary results suggest that, to a certain extent, current land use patterns appear sustainable.
Key words: Nicaragua, indigenous, sustainbility, BOSAWAS