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EVALUATION OF CHANGES IN ATLANTIC FOREST (VALLEY OF CUÑA PIRU,
MISIONES, ARGENTINA) WITH MULTI-TEMPORAL SATELLITE DATA.
A. Drozd a , S. Torrusio b ’ *, M. Arturi c .
“Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo-Universidad Nacional de La Plata, b Comisión Nacional de Actividades
Espaciales, c Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales-Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
storrusio@conae.gov.ar
Working Group VII/5
KEY WORDS: forestry, change detection, classification, multi-temporal, monitoring, prediction, management.
ABSTRACT:
The forest in the province of Misiones, northeastern of Argentina, is a portion of Paraná Forest (or Atlantic Forest) located also in
the south of Brasil and Paraguay. At the beginning of the last century the native forest had an extension of more than 100.000.000
ha. Actually, Brasil preserves only the 5% and Paraguay the 10% very spoiled and fragmented. In Argentina the decrease was the
45%, and keeps in existence 1.422.661 ha (National Forest Inventory 2003), with the higher values of biodiversity of the country.
This area in Argentina has an accelerated rhythm of urbanization and deforestation. The productive system in the zone provides
between 70% to 85% of wood to national market. Recent studies of diversity and dynamic of the native communities are very
limited. For these reasons it’s necessary to increase the spatial information of the natural resources, the expansion of human
activities and the disturbances in the environment to improve the management, the arrangement of territory and the tools for the
decisions makers. The main objectives of this study were: to analysis spatial and temporally the structure and dynamic of forest in
the Valley of Cuña Piru (sector of Atlantic Forest, Misiones), and to compare different methods and tools in order to develop an
efficient and operative methodology for a systematic monitoring of the status/condition of the area, by mean of satellite images
analysis (Landsat and Aster) and GIS techniques (modeling, mapping of changes, identification of plants structures and physonomy
by different classification methods). The preliminary results showed an operative and efficient methodology with remote sensing
tools for the forest monitoring and a preliminary protocol of processes was developed.
1. INTRODUCTION
The Interior Atlantic Forest (SAI), called, in Argentina, Selva
Paranaense or Misionera, extends along the east coast of
Brazil, east of Paraguay and northeast of Argentina (Cabrera
1976, Olson & Dimerstein 1998).
As other natural systems, has suffered a sharp decline during
the past century and nowadays survives only the 5% in Brazil,
and 10% in Paraguay of the 100 million existing hectares in
early century, mostly in a highly fragmented and deteriorating
way(Holz & Placci 2003). In Argentina, the reduction was near
45%, leaving a remnant of 1.422.661 ha natural forests
(Montenegro et al. 2002), concentrating here, the National
greatest biodiversity (Zuloaga et al. 1999). Despite this, the
SAI of Argentina is one of the least studied forests units of the
country and with the most accelerated rate of urbanization and
deforestation (Arturi et al 2005). This situation stands out the
needs to increase spatial information, both in resources as in
human disturbance activities in order to develop appropriate
criteria for land use management.
Focusing mainly on the length of studied area, the tropical
forest coverage mapping and its monitoring, can be
accomplished by applying remote sensing and geographic
information systems (GIS) (Freeman & Fox 1999).
Despite the emergence of new sensors, the MSS/TM Landsat
images remain to be useful. These images cover a 30 years
period that allows a clear analysis of tropical forest changes.
There are many examples in this regards: PRODES Project of
the National Space Research Institute (INPE) of Brazil that
* Corresponding author. This is useful to know for communicat
author.
monitors the amazonian deforestation evolution since 1973,
such as Skole & Tucker (1993) researches exploring the
relationship of Amazon deforestation rate and its interference
with climate change, Vieira et. al . 2003, Lu et.al. 2003 , who
develope classification methods for Amazon vegetation units
mapping by using Landsat; Hansen et.al . (2001), Gautman
et.al (2003), Fronsini de Barros Ferraz et.al (2005) whose
researches are based on landscape dynamics of forests
deforestation and fragmentation by applying Landsat; among
others.
The present study analyzed the SAI Laurel-Guatambu forest
and forested land changes in Cuna Piru Valley, Misiones, and
its environs, from 1973 to 2007 with MSS/TM/ETM+ Landsat,
and ASTER sensors; and GIS techniques. The main objectives
of this study were: to analysis spatial and temporally the
structure and dynamic of forest in the Valley of Cufia Piru
(sector of Atlantic Forest, Misiones, Fig. 1), and to compare
different methods and tools in order to develop an efficient and
operative methodology for a systematic monitoring of the
status/condition of the area.
Figure 1. Location of Study Area
