Spatio-temporal study for land cover in the north of Orinoco-Venezuela river (1988-2010)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21138/GF.686Keywords:
actividades antropógenicas, bosques, áreas intervenidas, análisis multitemporalAbstract
In the north zone of the Orinoco-Venezuela river diverse anthropogenic activities are identified that have degraded, modified, and eliminated the natural vegetation (deforestation, changes in the land use, agricultural and farming frontier expansion, urban and suburban expansion). To determine the spatial dynamics of the zone, a multi-temporal analysis of land cover was performed in the 1988-2010 period. For this purpose, two land cover maps were generated based on the interpretation of national level vegetation maps published in years 1988 and, the most up-to-date, 2010; by crosstabulation using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) a matrix was generated, which allowed us to determine the changes that occurred, being able to observe that the coverage of intervened areas increased considerably, from 21.9 % in year 1988, to 43.5 % in the year 2010. This process happened in detriment of the natural vegetation of the region, forests being the most affected zones, dwindling from 36.8 % in 1988 to 22.3 % in 2010. Based on these results, we conclude that the natural vegetation of the northern zone of the Orinoco River shows a tendency to severe degradation and even complete disappearance.
References
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