Comparative land use evolution in watershed
Name: GISELLE LEMOS MOREIRA
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 17/02/2017
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ALEXANDRE ROSA DOS SANTOS | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ALEXANDRE ROSA DOS SANTOS | Advisor * |
| NILTON CESAR FIEDLER | Internal Examiner * |
Summary: The rain forests presented, along of the years, a progressive loss of their original cover, WHEREin the land conversion to agricultural and livestock practices, logging, urbanization and the creation of infrastructures such as bridges, roads and dams, are the recurring causes of this deforestation. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate the temporal, spatial and thematic evolution of land use, of the Permanent Preservation Areas (APPs) and soil loss due to water erosion in the contribution area of a watershed, located in the southwest region of Espírito Santo state, Brazil. For the execution of this research, were used orthophotomosaics (spatial resolutions of 1 and 0.25 m), MDE SRTM (spatial resolution of 30 m), meteorological data of stations distributed over the study area and boundaries and region soil map. With the database, the following procedures were performed: a) photointerpretation to the acquirement of land use classes, b) APPs delimitations of the water courses, springs, slopes and hilltops, and c) estimation of the lost soil volume by water erosion, considering the real land use scenarios and an ideal land use scenario (simulated). From the results obtained, it was possible to infer that during the analyzed period the pasture and agricultural cultivation classes (highlight for the coffee plantation) were the most expressive. The APPs hilltop and water courses had greater participation in area. However, was observed a decrease in the percentage of APPs hilltops in scenario 2, delimited according to the parameters established by the new brazilian forest code. It was observed that more than 50% of the areas destined to APP are being used for other purposes. Soil loss estimates revealed a significant change in amount of soil loss among the evaluated scenarios. This result corroborates the importance of forest cover as an attenuating factor of soil degradation.
Keywords: geotechnology, soil loss, forest code.
