INVESTIGADORES
NANNI Ana Sofia
artículos
Título:
Sofía Nanni Sofía Nanni Agricultural adjustment, population dynamics and forests redistribution in a subtropical watershed of NW Argentina
Autor/es:
NANNI, A. SOFÍA; GRAU, H. RICARDO
Revista:
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
Editorial:
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
Referencias:
Lugar: HEIDELBERG; Año: 2014 vol. 14 p. 1641 - 1649
ISSN:
1436-3798
Resumen:
Patterns of land-use and land-cover change are usually grouped into one
of two categories defined by the dominant trend: (1) deforestation
resulting from expanding agriculture and (2) forest expansion, usually
related to the abandonment of marginal lands. At regional scale,
however, both processes can occur simultaneously even in the absence of
net change. Given the focus on net change, such redistribution of
agricultural and natural and seminatural lands has been generally
overlooked. The interaction between agriculture modernization, human
demography and complex topographic gradients of northwestern Argentina
has resulted in processes of both forest recovery and deforestation,
thus providing the opportunity to analyze patterns and driving forces of
land-cover redistribution. We analyzed 20 years (1986?2006) of
land-cover change in a subtropical watershed in relation to topographic
and demographic variables. Although net forest change represented
<1 %, forests redistribution affected 7 % of forest lands. There was a
consistent geographic segregation of deforestation and forest recovery,
with forests expanding over steep highlands and agriculture expanding
over lowland irrigated areas. Population trends were not associated to
forest expansion in lowlands but they explained 32 % of forest recovery
in highlands. Highland forest expansion and lowland deforestation,
respectively, imply conservation opportunities for humid montane forests
and the environmental services they provide (e.g., watershed
conservation) and threats for the conservation of dry forests and its
biodiversity. Our study exemplifies the importance of land-use
redistribution (rather than net change) with relevant environmental
consequences at regional scale.