Abstract

GUERRA MARTINEZ, Verónica  and  OCHOA GAONA, Susana. Forest and land use assessment from 1990 to the year 2000 in Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve, Tabasco, Mexico. Invest. Geog [online]. 2006, n.59, pp.7-25. ISSN 2448-7279.

We use GIS to determine changes and variation in the distribution of various vegetation types and land use from 1990 to 2000 in Centlas Marshes Biosphere Reserve, in Tabasco, Mexico. Maps of geology, soils, hidrology, temperature, rain, human settlements and roads were created for the area in order to see the influence of the environmental conditions that could affect vegetation. The LANDSAT MSS images for 1992 and for the year 2000 Landsat ETM images were used and classified using Chuvieco's Mixed Classification Method (1995). Vegetation and land use maps were generated for the year 1990 and 2000 using verification field points. The GIS analysis generated a change map and variation matrix. The tropical forest was the most affected ecosystem by diminishing considerably its surface. The change rate for the tropical forest in association of Bucida buceras represent 6.6% and for tropical forest association of Haematoxylon campechianum there was a 34.96% change rate. The change rate for mangrove was 1.15%, 0.72% for swamp communities and 27.82% for grassland. The analysis indicates that the change rate is mostly associated with the presence of roads, human settlements and channels mostly. The swamp communities, grasslands and water changed its distribution from they're original soils and geology units. The fires registered each year and speciallly those that ocurred in 1998, road building, petroleum extraction, overuse of natural resources, presence of cattle, wood consumption and the use of fire for hunting are some of the causes for the loss of tropical rain forest and the increased establishment of swamp communities.

Keywords : Geographic information systems (GIS); remote sensing (RS); Landsat; wetlands.

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