**2. The** *Araucaria* **forest and the fragmentation process**

According to the "Ecosystems of the World Classification", edited by Lieth and Werger in 1989, the Subtropical Evergreen Seasonal Conifer Forest or Mixed Ombrophilous Forest is typically dominated by the species *Araucaria angustifolia* (Bertoloni) O. Kuntze (paraná-pine) (also known as Araucaria Forest). Although the species is predominant, the forest type also supports complex, variable and regional ecosystems commonly composed of more than one hundred woody species, some of which are endemic to this forest type. Araucaria forest occurs naturally in an area of 216,100 square kilometers, encompassing a region of mountains and plateaus throughout Southern Brazil (Figure 1). The region is characterized by altitudes above 500 meters elevation and a subtropical highland climate (Cfb), where frosts might occur during the winter months or, less frequently, light snowfalls in the highest areas. Annual precipitation is high, ranging from 1,300 to 3,000 millimetres, without a dry season (Oliveira, 1999).

During the last century, Southern Brazil has experienced a rapid deterioration of its forest resources mainly due to land conversion, displacing forests for agriculture purposes as part of the colonization process and unsustainable selective logging of its commercial species. A central problem that is prevalent is determining how to manage the natural Araucaria forest fragments that remain. Some of these fragments are very small and are becoming poorer in terms of biodiversity because of intense human interference. The challenge is reconciling economic development and the conservation of biological resources and using the natural resources without destroying the possibilities for future generations. An important element in the efforts to save natural biodiversity is the establishment and maintenance of protected areas, as well as the sustainable management of the remaining areas.

Given the current situation, management strategies should be developed and applied to forest fragments in Southern Brazil in order to prevent the continuation of current processes of forest degradation and loss of biodiversity (Viana et al., 1992). Untended forests are more prone to disappear as they are gradually converted into other land uses that provide lower levels of ecosystem services and goods (Mc Evoy, 2004). In regions with intensive agriculture, protection against anthropogenic disturbance of these fragments is unlikely to be sufficient. A change from a top-down social relationship in which farmers are not sufficiently engaged in the process of developing environmental policies to a system that creates alternatives for natural resource use is likely one of the biggest challenges managers face in Brazil. There is an urgent need to reconcile local ecological knowledge (LEK) with environmental policies and natural resources protection with economic prosperity.
