Otimizando a escolha de espécies botânicas para restauração ecológica: uma abordagem heurística

Abstract

Environmental degradation is one of the most pressing challenges faced by humanity, making ecological restoration a fundamental strategy for recovering degraded ecosystems. With the advent of the United Nations’ Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), efforts are being made to restore billions of hectares of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, ensuring planetary sustainability. This work aims to explore the use of heuristic approaches, particularly Genetic Algorithms, to optimize the selection of botanical species in ecological restoration projects. The research involves a literature review and analysis of previous cases, highlighting how these algorithms can enhance the effectiveness of restoration interventions. The results demonstrate that the application of Genetic Algorithms validated the effectiveness of selecting suitable species when compared to the optimal solution. However, due to contextual differences, the combinatorial selection options offered by the metaheuristic also prove viable, emphasizing the flexibility and adaptability of Genetic Algorithms in optimizing species selection in ecological restoration projects.