Land cover changes in the Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga biomes from 1990 to 2010 based on a systematic remote sensing sampling approach

Bibliographic Data

ID8044916
AuthorsRené Beuchle (0000-0002-5776-6547, Joint Research Centre, corresponding author), Rosana Cristina Grecchi (0000-0002-4306-0332, Joint Research Centre), Yosio Edemir Shimabukuro (0000-0002-1469-8433, Joint Research Centre), Roman Seliger (0000-0002-0784-2556, Leipzig University), Hugh Eva (Joint Research Centre), Hugh Douglas Eva, Edson Eyji Sano (0000-0001-5760-556X, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation), Edson Sano, Franck Achard (0000-0001-7281-9582, Joint Research Centre), Frédéric Achard (0000-0002-5327-1969)
Year2015
Volume58
Pages116-127
Publication date2015-02-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueApplied Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0143-6228 • E-ISSN: 1873-7730
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.apgeog.2015.01.017
OpenAlexW1965846105
LanguageEN
Citations received32
References cited40

The main objective of our study was to provide consistent information on land cover changes between the years 1990 and 2010 for the Cerrado and Caatinga Brazilian seasonal biomes. These areas have been overlooked in terms of land cover change assessment if compared with efforts in monitoring the Amazon rain forest. For each of the target years (1990, 2000 and 2010) land cover information was obtained through an object-based classification approach for 243 sample units (10 km × 10 km size), using (E)TM Landsat images systematically located at each full degree confluence of latitude and longitude. The images were automatically pre-processed, segmented and labelled according to the following legend: Tree Cover (TC), Tree Cover Mosaic (TCM), Other Wooded Land (OWL), Other Land Cover (OLC) and Water (W). Our results indicate the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes lost (gross loss) respectively 265,595 km2 and 89,656 km2 of natural vegetation (TC + OWL) between 1990 and 2010. In the same period, these areas also experienced gain of TC and OWL. By 2010, the percentage of natural vegetation cover remaining in the Cerrado was 47% and in the Caatinga 63%. The annual (net) rate of natural vegetation cover loss in the Cerrado slowed down from −0.79% yr−1 to −0.44% yr−1 from the 1990s to the 2000s, while in the Caatinga for the same periods the rate increased from −0.19% yr−1 to −0.44% yr−1. In summary, these Brazilian biomes experienced both loss and gains of Tree Cover and Other Wooded Land; however a continued net loss of natural vegetation was observed for both biomes between 1990 and 2010. The average annual rate of change in this period was higher in the Cerrado (−0.6% yr−1) than in the Caatinga (−0.3% yr−1

Biome · Land cover · African Botany and Ecology Studies · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Land Use and Ecosystem Services

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