Forest fragmentation in São José dos Campos Municipality between 1973 and 2004
Abstract
Remote sensing data and techniques, coupled with landscape ecology metrics, were used to investigate the fragmentation of forest patches in São José dos Campos municipality over 30 years. 1973 and 2004 Landsat sensors images were classified, generating land use/cover maps. These maps were used to calculate landscape ecology metrics for forest patches in the Fragstats software. Results showed a landscape highly fragmented and with increasing forest degradation throughout the period of study. The number of forest patches increased, along with a decrease in mean patch size, denotes fragmentation and reduction of forest area in São José dos Campos. The remaining metrics were also indicative of forest degradation, such as increasing edge length and reduction of area core for forest patches. Additional studies are needed to refine the analysis presented here, such as to gather data on forest inventories to allow attempts on conservation planning. Keywords: landscape ecology, landscape metrics, remote sensing, São José dos Campos (Brazil).
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2009-10-26
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Geography, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil - eISSN 1983-8700 is licensed under the Creative Commons BY 4.0 License.
