The urbanization of a campus landscape has required much space for this expansion, reinforcing the status of geographical space as a limited resource. We analyzed the effects of land cover change assessed over tempora...
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The urbanization of a campus landscape has required much space for this expansion, reinforcing the status of geographical space as a limited resource. We analyzed the effects of land cover change assessed over temporal dataset on composition and configuration dynamics of UFSCar (Federal University of São Carlos) campus landscape, based on a descriptive view of the hemeroby levels, over a 54-year period (1962-2016), in order to understand the impacts of past anthropogenic induced landscape change and inform decision making with regard to biodiversity management. The classification of land use/cover dynamics, over time, was obtained based on screen digitizing of aerial photos and LandSat imagery. An ordinal scale ranging from ahemerob to metahemerob was applied to assess the hemerobiotic state of each land use type. Currently, The UFSCar landscape campus configures a biocultural mosaic in different stages of hemeroby. Thus a campus landscape dynamics model, which can be denoted as “forestry-conservation-urban model”, anthropogenic landscape is replaced by natural one, later by land cover reflecting the spatial anthropization process. Through time, two hemerobiotic trajectories were identified, in which 1) an euhemerob landscape matrix is substituted by an ahemerob one, resulting in increased naturalness of the campus landscape, and then 2) metahemerob patch types will later on increasing as a consequence of ongoing urbanization. Expressive amount of ahemerob patches in campus landscape fulfills one of the conditions for maintenance of the capacity for self-regulation and sustainability of a biocultural landscape. This framework provides an essential tool supporting with essential information about current and historical landscape sustainability for campus landscape management and support decision making process. The main institutional challenge for campus landscape sustainable management lies in the balance between the competitors of the campus landscape matrix:
The intensification of anthropic uses (i.e., increase of the hemerobic condition) threatens the remnants of native vegetation due to the reduction of its self-regulation capacity. In this research, the Distance to Nat...
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The intensification of anthropic uses (i.e., increase of the hemerobic condition) threatens the remnants of native vegetation due to the reduction of its self-regulation capacity. In this research, the Distance to Nature (D2N) index for land use and land cover was applied in the Río Grande de Comitán watershed (Southern Mexico) to answer the following questions: 1) What were the land use dynamics observed in the Rio Grande de Comitán watershed in the trajectory through 1999, 2009 and 2019? 2) Does the subcategorization of the D2N allow one to identify which anthropic uses influence more the territorial expression of the watershed? To answer these questions, we performed a supervised classification of land use and land cover was performed in this watershed, and for the D2N index, the classification was simplified to three-category scale for the subcategorization of the anthropic component. Through Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we identified that agricultural anthropogenic use had the greatest influence on territorial expression. The reported scenario indicates a trend of gradual and continuous reduction of naturalness over the last 20 years. Additionally, the D2N index proved to be a useful tool to demonstrate both the anthropic impact, with the simplified scale, and the component that most influences the territory, by subcategorizing the anthropic scale.
Butia palm forests are considered unique due to their aesthetic value, high biodiversity level and historical, archaeological and cultural value. The lack of regeneration of butia palms caused by cattle overgrazing an...
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Butia palm forests are considered unique due to their aesthetic value, high biodiversity level and historical, archaeological and cultural value. The lack of regeneration of butia palms caused by cattle overgrazing and natural grasslands replacement by agriculture endangers these palm forests. The aim of this work is to provide information for the proposal of a conservation area in this rural landscape within the framework of sustainable development. This work was developed within the context of a Geographic Information System with thematic information on palm forest density levels, soils, land use aptitude and rural registers. Field surveys were conducted to record the presence of plant species and genetic resources in different vegetation units. The main category of soil cover was natural grasslands, followed by native forests, wetlands and palm forests. Palm forests grow mainly on soil units with poor to rather poor drainage and on arable or non-arable lands under special conditions. We identified 212 farms where the palm forest is found, a high diversity of vegetation units, the presence of 302 native taxa of plants and a significant number of plant genetic resources for various uses. For the designation of a conservation area, we propose 20 priority farms that will ensure that palm forests are well represented regarding ecosystem diversity. We consider the creation of a Protected Landscape, a State Park or a GIAHS to be the best alternatives so as to protect this unique multifunctional landscape.
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