The role of private lands for conservation: Land cover change analysis in the Caldenal savanna ecosystem, Argentina

Protected areas are critical for conservation of the world’s biodiversity; however, parks isolated from their surroundings will not assure the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Private lands have the potential to achieve the dual role of conserving natural habitats while providing goods and services societies need. Therefore, understanding which land use practices on private land contribute to the maintenance of native habitats is important. In this study, a land use and land cover change analysis was developed for the Caldenal savanna ecosystem, Argentina, to determine the effect of private game reserves on landscape scale change. Game reserves were found preferentially located in the areas with highest proportion of forest cover. No differences were found in rates of conversion of native habitat to agriculture between game reserves and cattle ranches for 1987–1999 or 1999–2008. Rates of deforestation differed with landholding size between the first and second period. Deforestation stopped in the second period in the game reserves and big cattle ranches, but increased in intensity in small cattle ranches. Intensity of deforestation was more related to agricultural potential of the ranches, which are correlated with landholding size, than to the land use type. Deforestation was higher in areas with more productive soils and higher annual rainfall. These results suggest that, for the period analyzed, incorporation of game reserves as a land use did not significantly alter processes of land cover change, though if conversion to agriculture increases in marginal areas, game reserves potentially could be beneficial for maintenance of a significant portion of the Caldenal.

► We analyzed land cover change dynamics in different land use types.
► Game reserves were found to be established in areas with highest forest cover.
► Game reserves did not influence the intensity of conversion to agriculture.
► Intensity of conversion to agriculture was related to environmental conditions.