Abstract

TRUCIOS-CACIANO, Ramón; ESTRADA-AVALOS, Juan; CERANO-PAREDES, Julián  and  RIVERA-GONZALEZ, Miguel. Land-use change dynamic in the north of León, Guanajuato. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2011, vol.2, n.spe1, pp.127-137. ISSN 2007-0934.

The change of natural vegetation obeys a growing human population and an increasing demand of services and activities to fulfill the needs of human groups. This paper uses two models in order to explore, whether this changes in natural vegetation are due to deforestation or livestock in the period ranging from 1970 to 2007 in area to the north of the municipality of León, Guanajuato. Using geographic information systems, and working with a scale 1:50 000, we found that thirty two percent of changes correspond to the studied time period; namely, that 7 294 hectares out of a total 22 710 that make up the area, have had a different land use in the past. The deforestation model establishes that 62.8% (4 582ha) of these changes were favorable, associated with revegetation processes. In contrast, the model of livestock impact establishes that 62.5% (4 561ha) of the area has been changed to accommodate for this activity. The results also indicate that an increase in livestock activities, for example opening-up natural vegetation areas for grazing (forests, shrublands), augments soil degradation risks due to surface-runoff.

Keywords : deforestation; geographic information system; land use change; livestock impact; models.

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