Anthropic impacts on forest cover in the Iracá river basin, Colombian plains piedmont
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30972/geo.22438105Keywords:
watershed, stream, forested corridors, fragmentation, connectivityAbstract
Between August 2023 and September 2024, a study was conducted in the Iracá river basin in the Colombian plains foothills to evaluate the current state of the forests as a function of the land use regime. During this period, two critical variables of anthropogenic impact were measured: fragmentation and loss of connectivity of forest corridors. The study was based on photographic records and field walks and subsequent geospatial analysis with LANDSAT images to establish the degrees of fragmentation of the native forest.
It was found that the forest corridors have suffered some degree of structural fragmentation leaving relicts that show an insular spatial arrangement. Gaps were identified, in some cases greater than 1 kilometer, that cut the continuity of the forest corridors, affecting the biotic flow of fauna and impacting the network of small tributaries, compromising ecosystem functionality.
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