LANDSCAPE CHANGE AND LAND-USE/LAND-COVER DYNAMICS IN RONDÔNIA, BRAZILIAN AMAZON.
Mateus Batistella
October 2001
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- COMMITTEE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- PREFACE
- ABSTRACT
- 1. MOTIVATIONS FOR THE STUDY OF LANDSCAPE CHANGE IN RONDÔNIA, BRAZILIAN AMAZON
- 1.1. Introduction
- 1.2. Hypotheses and research questions
- 1.3. What to expect
- 2. ENVIRONMENTAL AND CULTURAL SETTING: THE OPPORTUNITY FOR A COMPARATIVE STUDY
- 2.1. Amazônia: a land in search of its destiny
- 2.2. The fate of Rondônia: rural development vs. landscape transformation
- 2.3. Why Machadinho and Anari?
- 2.4. The landscape in Machadinho and Anari: background data
- 2.4.1. Geographic location, boundaries, and settlement architectures
- 2.4.2. Climate
- 2.4.3. Geology
- 2.4.4. Geomorphology and hydrology
- 2.4.5. Soils
- 2.4.6. Vegetation
- 2.4.7. Fauna
- 2.5. People, time, and labor: the annual cycle of rural production systems in Machadinho and Anari
- 3. VEGETATION STRUCTURE AS AN INDICATOR FOR LAND- COVER DYNAMICS ASSESSMENT IN THE AMAZON
- 3.1. Disturbance and secondary succession in the Amazon: short review and motivation
- 3.2. Data collection
- 3.2.1. Sampling strategy
- 3.2.2. Database implementation
- 3.3. Data analysis
- 3.3.1. Descriptive comparisons through photos and vegetation profiles
- 3.3.2. Variables analyzed
- 3.3.3. Integration of spectral data
- 3.3.4. Statistical analysis
- 3.4. Vegetation structure of secondary succession and forest in Machadinho and Anari
- 3.4.1. Phyto-physiognomy and general patterns of succession classes and forest
- 3.4.2. What makes a secondary succession stage?
- 3.4.3. The spectral response to vegetation structure
- 3.5. The role of vegetation structure and remote sensing for the study of secondary succession dynamics in colonization areas of Amazônia
- 3.6. Trends in research of tropical forest secondary succession
- 4. LULC DYNAMICS: THE COLONIZATION IMPACT
- 4.1. Geotechnologies and LULC dynamics in Amazônia: potentials and pitfalls
- 4.2. Methodological approach
- 4.2.1. Multi-temporal analysis: what need have I for this?
- 4.2.2. Pre-classification techniques
- 4.2.3. LULC classification
- 4.2.4. Post-classification procedures and GIS manipulation
- 4.3. Land-Use/Land-Cover (LULC) dynamics
- 4.3.1. Machadinho and Anari: general spatial trends in LULC
- 4.3.2. Deforestation, production, and secondary succession: different processes
- 4.3.3. Do communal forest reserves make a difference in Machadinho?
- 4.3.4. Roads: the path for lot occupation
- 4.3.5. Property-based analysis of LULC
- 4.4. The colonization impact in Machadinho and AnariThe colonization impact in Machadinho and Anari
- 4.4.1. Methodological and operational issues
- 4.4.2. Main findings and their meanings
- 4.4.3. Trajectories of LULC and trends for the near future
- 5. LANDSCAPE CHANGE DESCRIBED BY SELECTED METRICS
- 5.1. Why study landscape change in Rondônia?
- 5.2. Conceptual and methodological approach
- 5.3. Data and methods
- 5.4. Spatial pattern and process in Machadinho and Anari: metrics and trends
- 5.4.1. Landscape: a broad comparison between the study sites
- 5.4.2. Class: understanding LULC change through spatial metrics
- 5.4.3. Patch: polygon-based descriptive statistics
- 5.5. Landscape transformation in Machadinho and Anari
- 5.5.1. Metrics and meanings
- 5.5.2. Unresolved problems in spatial data analysis
- 6. BEYOND THE METRICS: HUMAN DIMENSIONS OF LANDSCAPE CHANGE
- 6.1. Understanding the human dimensions of landscape change
- 6.2. The structure of rules and incentives affecting land-use in Machadinho and Anari
- 6.2.1. Anari: a 'rapid settlement project'
- 6.2.2. Machadinho: a better design for settlement projects in the Amazon?
- 6.3. Actors and resources: the underlying processes of landscape change
- 6.3.1. Implementation phase
- 6.3.2. Consolidation phase
- 6.4. Toward better interactions among actors in the frontier
- 7. CONCLUDING REMARKS
- 7.1. This dissertation in the context of landscape ecology
- 7.2. Hypotheses revisited
- 7.3. Significance and implications of this study
- 7.4. Opportunities for further studies
- REFERENCES
- APPENDIX 1
- APPENDIX 2