Influence of Hypsometry in the Occupation of Semiarid Areas

Abstract

This research aims with the help of geotechnologies to map the different uses and coverage of the earth by analyzing its effects in relation to the altitudinal gradient in semiarid regions. In order to do so, RapidEye images were acquired in the year 2014, after the organization of the database the digital processing of the acquired scenes was carried out which were performed contrast technique, segmentation, identified eight classes of use and land cover and submitted to Maximum Likelihood classification. The relationship between forest cover and different uses indicates that the most representative class was Agriculture and Livestock, as a consequence of the local economy being based on subsistence culture and the Lowland environment is the most affected. In addition, it is verified that there is a lower degree of anthropization in the tops evidencing that in the Plateau environment persists a greater density of native vegetation. This research confirms the hypothesis that the process of fragmentation of the native vegetation of the semi-arid region changes in relation to the altitudinal gradient, since the higher the altitude, the lower the degree of isolation and, consequently, the high forest coverage.