Pilot monitoring of caatinga spatial-temporal dynamics through the action of agriculture and livestock in the brazilian semiarid

Abstract

The Caatinga biome is one of the most threatened in Brazil because most of the native forest has been deforested for land use, mainly with pasture, for animal production. The objective of this research was to evaluate the changes caused by agricultural and livestock activities in a region with a predominance of the Caatinga biome, using remote sensing techniques. The study area comprised the municipality of Capoeiras-PE, where the main economic activity is dairy farming. 16 images covering the period from 1998 to 2018 of the Landsat-5 and Landsat-8 satellites were used, with a spatial resolution of 30 m, in which intense agricultural and livestock activity and degradation of the biome were observed in the boundaries of the municipality, through the index of normalized difference vegetation (NDVI) and leaf area index (LAI). NDVI lower than 0.264 was found associated with areas occupied by agriculture or by cattle, which became more evident over the years (1998–2018). In areas of intense agricultural and livestock activity, the LAI ranged from 0.00 to 0.51 m2 m−2, due to the infestation of the cochineal carmine pest and the soil compaction caused by trampling animal between the years 2008–2010. The substitution of pest-tolerant crops and the increase in the cattle herd led to the expansion of agriculture and livestock, resulting in the degradation of areas of the Caatinga biome.