GIS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF ENVIROMENTAL UNITS IN A CLIFT FOREST (PARANÁ, ENTRE RÍOS)

Abstract

Among its biotic effects, fragmentation can change the diversity and abundance of species, altering plant and animal interactions. As long as the modification of the landscape increases, the preservation of the biodiversity will progressively depend on the defence of small areas and the biota outside of the protected areas. In this scenario, the remaining forest is particularly important, due to the fact that a network of small fragments properly connected between each other could uphold the biodiversity at the landscape’s scale. The aim of this work was to determinate environmental units using remote sensing and GIS tools. The study area is located in the Middle Paraná River (31o 42 ́ 13 ́ ́ S - 60 o 26 ́ 05 ́ ́ W). The area is a private property, with a surface of approximately 25 hectares. Phytogeographically this zone belongs to Espinal (Chaco region) and it is characterized by the presence of tree species as Prosopis & Acacia as climax communities of Espinal. Associated species are Ruprechtia laxiflora, Fagara hyemalis, Myrcianthes cisplatensis, Myrsine laetevirens, among others. In addition, some other genus can be found like Jodina, Celtis, Schinus, Geoffroea, Aspidosperma, etc. Actually, several issues regarding invasion of exotic woody species prevail in the area, like Ligustrum lucidum. Cartography of the area was obtained from field data and from GIS and remote sensing data. Gamin BaseCamp, SNAP and Quantum GIS software were used. As result, a supervised classification (Kmean, 15 classes and 20 iterations) of an image of the SENTINEL 2A (spatial resolution: 10 m) was built. A map allows to determinate 4 environmental units: Cliff Forest, Exotic Forest, Mix Forest and fluvial corridor. This kind of map allows the determination of environmental units for biodiversity case studies, detection of biological zones in fragmented areas and the identification of potential protected areas.