Analysis of Ecosystem Services in Landscape Units of the Pantanal of Cáceres - Mato Grosso, Brazil
Traditional livestock farming, Wetlands, Geotechnologies, Environmental conservation
Ecosystem services consist of benefits that society obtains from nature, based on its ecological functions. The Pantanal is a complex and dynamic wetland area with vast biodiversity, formed by different landscape units that provide ecosystem services. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of human activity on the ecosystem services generated by the landscape units of the Pantanal of Cáceres in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, considering in the analysis the influence of the flood pulse on the ecosystem's functional dynamics. Bibliometric research was conducted on wetlands and ecosystem services; geotechnologies were used to generate maps for the period from 1984 to 2024. The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) tool was applied to identify, describe, and classify ecosystem services. The thirty-three landscape units of the Pantanal in Cáceres provide all categories of Ecosystem Services (provisioning, cultural, and regulating), developing 54 services (20 provisioning, 19 regulating, and 15 cultural). The services offered are biophysical and geophysical in nature, acting directly and indirectly, and may or may not be combined, at local, regional, and global levels. Throughout the investigated period, there was a change in the environmental scenario of the study area with losses and replacements of the services offered. The expansion of the pasture provision service occurred in almost all units, to the detriment of the loss of provisioning, regulating, and cultural services offered by native vegetation. There was a reduction in water, promoting the loss of regulating, provisioning, and cultural services, which allows the maintenance of livestock activity, which uses native pastures extensively and with low impact. It was concluded that human activity and climate change have promoted alterations that have compromised the ecosystem services of these units, constituting a threat to the balance that provides benefits to society.