Anthropogenic fragmentation of Puna ecosystems in the extreme south of Peru

Abstract

Despite the importance of the ecosystems of the Puna ecoregion in the provision of essential ecosystem services for human well-being, conservation and restoration strategies are not implemented in the extreme south of Peru. On the contrary, for years they have been degrading and transforming due to the construction of gray infrastructure for various anthropogenic activities (roads, water consolidation, material deposits, population growth, etc.), generating an evident fragmentation process whose level and ecological effects are ignored. That is why, using the principles of landscape ecology, specialized software, satellite image review and field trips, we developed a complete cartographic base of anthropogenic activities from the years 1975, 2012 and 2050 to intercept them to the ecosystems of the Puna ecoregion of the National Map and thus calculate the metrics or fragmentation indices. The results indicate that by 2050 8.2% of the Puna ecoregion will be transformed into infrastructure, the number of fragments tripling, their area (size), complexity, irregularity (shape) decreasing severely, and the distance between them (edge) increasing. . At the class level, the puna grasslands will be the most fragmented, then the periglacial zone, lagoons, bogs, bushes and high Andean forests, generating harmful effects for biodiversity that are not being considered in territorial management policies. This scientific information is useful for local authorities to establish restoration mechanisms for the ecosystems that provide water resources, necessary for agriculture, livestock, population, mining, etc., at the departmental level with a view to sustainable development.