Spatial-temporal dynamics of vegetation cover, land use and anthropogenic transformations of landscape in the Cabaçal river basin, Mato Grosso state, Brazil

Abstract

The landscapes are suffering intrinsic changes to the shape of land use, causing increasing forest removal for the insertion of agricultural/livestock activities. This study aimed to evaluate, within the spatial-temporal perspective and through geo-technologies, vegetation cover, land use and anthropogenic transformation of the landscape in the Cabaçal river basin, Mato Grosso state (Brazil). The images were geo-referenced, classified and processed using the SPRING software, and the thematic classes quantified and edited with the ArcGIS software. The degree of human disturbance was verified through the Anthropogenic Transformation Index. It identified ten classes related to land use and vegetation cover. During the analyzed period of 29 years, the vegetation cover was reduced in all subbasins of the study area for livestock development, with an increase of 237% for this activity. At the subbasin Nascentes do rio Cabaçal there was an increase of 56.77% from this land use, resulting in the deforestation of both Amazon and Cerrado biomes. The ATI has shown that forest removal increases gradually, classifying the landscape conservation status of the basin as “Regular”. The Interbacia do rio Cabaçal, located in the Amazon and Pantanal biomes, increased by 71.64% in the degree of human disturbance. The projection shows that for the year 2080 the degree of human disturbance is foreseen as “Regular”. For the year 2100 the projection demonstrates an Anthropogenic Transformation Index of 5.43 for the basin area as “Degraded”, which may result in a substantial loss of the remainder from the Cerrado, Amazon and Pantanal biomes.