Estoque do potencial produtivo do cerrado utilizando geotecnologias

Abstract

Mapping and monitoring forests and biomes is essential to get reliable information about natural resources. Such information is used as a database to support strategies for mitigation of impacts, actions toward a sustainable forest management and even the valuation of these resources. This is even more important in forests and endangered biomes, as is the case of the Brazilian savannas, which is considered one of the most threatened and richest, in terms of biodiversity, savannas in the world. Usually, forest monitoring is accomplish by measuring the trees on the field, the so-called forest inventories, which are expensive, costly and extremely difficult to be performed periodically in extensive forests, as is the case of the Brazilian savannas. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a methodology based on geotechnologies that can update periodically the information about volume, carbon and basal area stocks in savanna fragments in order to reduce tree measurements in the field. We used data from 61 savanna fragments, where 25 of them had 2 measurements with 5 years interval (monitoring). Multivariate linear models, based on field data and reflectance values of Landsat images, were fitted and validated. Subsequently, the best models were applied to fragments that had only one measured, and then the volume, basal area and carbon values were obtained for all 61 fragments in the year of the second measurement. Additionally, maps updating the productivity for the year 2010 were generated. Considering that the technique presented good results, the models were again applied for the next 5 years, generating savannas productivity maps for volume, carbon and basal area in 2015.