Incorporating biodiversity expert knowledge in landscape conservation planning: a case study involving the Pantanal

We developed a framework to incorporate biodiversityinformation about target species based on expert knowledge into landscape metrics in order to subsidize conservation planning. Four steps make up our framework: 1) biodiversityexpert consults, 2) processing and organizing the information, 3) validating the information and 4) incorporating biodiversitydata into landscape metrics. As a case study, we applied this framework in the Upper Paraguai basin in the limits of Mato Grosso do Sul state. This is a part of an ongoing effort to incorporate biodiversityin the Zoneamento Ecologico Economico of Mato Grosso do Sul state. Based on systematically collected data from biodiversityexpert questionnaires, ours results helped to fill species-level knowledge gaps concerning functional connectivity and matrix permeability at the landscape scale and provide clear target species parameters for the generation of conservation scenarios. This approach meets the need for spatially-explicit species based targets and recognize the importance for biodiversityfor sustainable territorial planning. Key-words: Expert knowledge, functional connectivity, matrix, permeability, target species, conservation planning, Ecological EconomicZoning.