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SUMMARYIn many developing countries, high rates of deforestation and biodiversity loss make conservation efforts urgent. Improving existing land-use plans can be an option for enhancing biodiversity conservation. We showcase an approach to enhancing an existing forest land-use plan using widely available data and spatial tools, focusing on Argentina's Southern Yungas ecoregion. We mapped the distribution of wilderness areas and species and habitats of conservation concern, assessed their representation in the land-use plan and quantified potential changes in habitat availability and forest connectivity. Wilderness comprised 48% of the study area, and the highest concentrations of elements of conservation concern were in the north. In the current land-use plan, wilderness areas often occur in regions where logging and grazing are allowed, and a large proportion of the forest with the highest conservation value (43%) is under some level of human influence. Furthermore, we found that deforestation being legally allowed in the land-use plan could reduce forest connectivity and habitat availability substantially. We recommend updating the current land-use plan by considering human influence and elements of conservation concern. More broadly, we demonstrate that widely available spatial datasets and straightforward approaches can improve the usefulness of existing land-use plans so that they more fully incorporate conservation goals.

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ResumenEn el Chaco cordobés la agricultura intensiva ha simplificado el hábitat y empobrecido la biodiversidad. El Departamento Totoral en el centro provincial, consiste en una matriz agrícola con escasos relictos de bosque. La incidencia de la transformación agrícola del hábitat sobre atributos de las comunidades de vertebrados, se estudió en remanentes de vegetación nativa con distinta condición y forma (hábitat cuadrangular HC y alongado HA). La estructura del hábitat, aún con influencia climática, fue más completa en el primero; en HA se comprobó ausencia de estratos superiores a 7 m, arbustización y aumento de suelo desnudo. Se anotó un total de 109 especies; durante el período húmedo hubo mayor número de especies y abundancia de individuos. Las alteraciones del hábitat favorecieron especies de distribución amplia, de agrosistemas, y empobrecimiento faunístico general. La avifauna mostró reemplazo estacional de especies, no así la herpeto y mastofauna, comunidades más permanentes. La estructura gremial presentó mayoría de insectívoros. La diversidad de herpetofauna fue mayor en la época húmeda, en micromamíferos no mostró diferencia estacional y la de avifauna fue varios órdenes mayor en ambas estaciones. La distribución de la herpetofauna y mastofauna en el hábitat se relacionó principalmente con buena cobertura gramíneo-herbácea, y la de aves con los estratos altos del bosque. Las variables del hábitat perturbadas por presión humana inciden sobre los valores de importancia de las especies, las fluctuaciones estacionales, los movimientos espaciales y favorece a ciertos grupos. Los relictos de vegetación nativa revisten importancia para preservación y restauración de la fauna regional. Palabras clave: Chaco Cordobés, expansión agrícola, fauna silvestre, hábitat degradado, conservación.Abstract Intensive agriculture has simplified the Chaco habitat and impoverished its biodiversity, in Córdoba, Argentina. Thus, the district of Totoral in the provincial core has become a cultivated matrix with very few relicts of native forest. The impact of agricultural transformation of the habitat, on vertebrate communities attributes, was studied in remnants of native vegetation with different condition and shape (quadrangular HC, and elongated HA). Habitat structure was more complete in the first one, even considering climatic influence; while in HA strata higher than 7 m were missing, and bare soil and shrub thicket were increased. A total of 109 species was scored. Species and individuals were more abundant during the wet period. Alterations of habitat favored: species of wide distribution, species tolerant to agro-systems conditions, and a general faunal impoverishment. Birds showed seasonal species replacement, but not in more permanent herpetological and mammalian communities. The guild structure presented most insectivores. During wet season herpetological specific diversity was higher, but in mammals it showed no seasonal difference, whereas in birds it was several orders higher in both seasons. The distribution o...