Showing papers by "Eduardo S. Brondizio published in 1994"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used Landsat satellite data to study deforestation and vegetation patterns in the Amazon Basin and found that cattle favor cattle over people as occupants of the frontier, not primarily population growth as in Asia.
Abstract: Attention to differential patterns and rates of secondary succession on deforested land in the Amazon Basin can help formulate future policies. Amazon deforestation is driven by policies that favor cattle over people as occupants of the frontier, not primarily population growth as in Asia. Deforestation has transformed Brazil into the world's fourth major contributor of carbon to the atmosphere. This article discusses the following topics: How and why deforestation occured; use of Landsat satellite data to study deforestation and vegetation patterns; analytical procedures for satellite data analysis; Transamazon highway vegetational change. 62 refs., 5 figs., 3 tabs.
352 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a georeferenced map of land cover and land use for an area of the Amazon estuary inhabited by three populations of caboclos with distinct patterns of land use is presented.
Abstract: Landsat TM scenes for 1985 and 1991 are used to produce a georeferenced map of land cover and land use for an area of the Amazon estuary inhabited by three populations of caboclos with distinct patterns of land use. This information is combined in a geographic information system with ethnographic and survey research carried out over the past 5 years to develop representative spectral “signatures” which permit measurement and differentiation of land uses and the detection of change even between small areas of managed floodplain forest and unmanaged forest, and between three distinct age/growth classes of secondary succession following deforestation. Implementation of these procedures permit the scaling up or down of research at different resolutions. Three distinct patterns of land use are examined with differential impact on the environment. Mechanized agriculture at one site has eliminated virtually all the mature upland forest and is now dominated by secondary successional vegetation. The more traditional system of diversified land use at the next site shows a subtle cycling of flooded forest to managed palm forest through time in response to the price of palm fruit and cycling in the use of fallow land. A third site, based on palm fruit extractivism, shows minimal changes in land cover due to persistent specialization on management of flooded forest extraction. There is little evidence that the community with the greatest impact on forest cover is any better off economically than the two communities which have minimal impact on the landscape. This study suggests how a balance between use and conservation in Amazonia may be achieved in floodplain and estuarine areas, and the effectiveness of monitoring these types of land cover from satellite platforms.
136 citations