Monitoring Land-Use Change in Tropical Rainforests

人类与环境相互作用最活跃的领域之一， 近年来，亚马逊盆地的热带雨林。 快速 毁林和扩大农业及其他人类活动 极大地改变了大片土地 由此产生的变化， 植物覆盖对碳在大气中的流动有着深远的影响， 地球和大气系统，不仅在亚马逊河流域， 地球仪。 最近的气候变化模型已经考虑到 森林砍伐是一个不可逆转的过程，但卫星分析 过去15年的图像显示， 复杂. 该项目将开发和测试分析程序， 分析土地利用、土地覆被和相关的 在布拉甘蒂纳地带的一部分，亚马逊河的第一部分， 广泛定居。 来自大地卫星专题制图仪的数据将 用于确定土地使用和土地覆盖模式;这些数据将 输入地理信息系统， 政治边界和管辖权，河流和道路网络，以及 主要地质和土壤特征。 GIS将用于分析 森林砍伐和随后人类定居的动态， 牧场和田地被遗弃的程度， 自然植被 这些分析很可能表明， 的清除林地恢复到茂密的植被状态， 比以前理解的速度更快。 这项研究将 与来自巴西的科学家合作， 牧场和农业组织（EMBRAPA）。 NSF支持 得到了美国国际开发署的资金补充， 发展，将用于购买计算机设备和 供EMBRAPA在本项目中使用。 这项研究项目将提供一个非常有指导意义的 检查可用于评估关系的程序 基础设施和经济发展与土地利用变化之间的关系 亚马逊河流域森林茂密的地区。 通过将人类 在该地区的自然过程中，研究人员应该 建立一个框架，以便更广泛地检查人类- 环境相互作用。 在互动中， 有效地研究了人类引起的土地利用的过程 影响了生物物种的多样性。 这一系列研究 还应有助于建立一个更坚实的基础， 各种政策的规模，已提出减少 自然环境压力，同时鼓励经济发展。 该项目的结果将在其他领域具有高度的普遍性。 nations.

One of the most active areas of human-environmental interaction in recent years has been the rainforests of the Amazon Basin. Rapid deforestation and expansion of agricultural and other human activities has dramatically altered large tracts of land. The resultant change in plant cover has profound implications for flows of carbon between terrestrial and atmospheric systems, not only in Amazonia, but across the globe. Recent models of climatic change have considered deforestation an irreversible process, but analysis of satellite imagery over the last 15 years indicates that processes are much more complex. This project will develop and test analytic procedures to analyze changing patterns of land use, land cover, and related variables in a part of Zona Bragantina, the first part of Amazonia to be extensively settled. Data from the LANDSAT Thematic Mapper will be used to identify land-use and land-cover patterns; these data will be entered into a geographic information system (GIS) with data on political boundaries and jurisdictions, river and road networks, and major geologic and soil features. The GIS will then be used to analyze the dynamics of deforestation and subsequent human settlement, the degree to which pastures and fields are abandoned, and the rates of natural revegetation. These analyses may well show that large tracts of cleared forest land return to a densely vegetated state at much faster rates than previously understood. The research will be conducted collaboratively with scientists from the Brazilian Organization for Ranching and Agriculture (EMBRAPA). NSF support has been complemented by funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which will be used to purchase computer equipment and supplies for use by EMBRAPA in this project. This research project will provide a highly instructive examination of procedures that can be used to evaluate relationships between infrastructure and economic development and land-use changes in a heavily forested part of the Amazon basin. By relating human activities to natural processes in this region, the investigator should establish a framework for more extensive examination of human- environmental interactions. Among the interactions that can be more effectively examined are processes by which human-induced land use affects the diversity of biological species. This line of research should also help establish a firmer basis for evaluating the nature and magnitude of various policies that have been proposed for reducing natural environmental stress while encouraging economic development. The results of this project will be highly generalizable in other nations.