Abstract

PINTO LEDEZMA, J.N.  and  RUIZ DE CENTURION, Teresa. Deforestation and fragmentation patterns 1976-2006 in San Julian district (Santa Cruz, Bolivia). Ecología en Bolivia [online]. 2010, vol.45, n.2, pp.101-115. ISSN 1605-2528.

The San Julian district is one of the municipalities that has one of the highest rates of population growth in Bolivia. Based on this, we studied the patterns of deforestation and fragmentation of the San Julian district, in a period of 30 years, using data from GIS and satellite imagery. The results show that after 30 years, the natural coverage (forest and savannas) was reduced sharply from 98% in 1976 to 32% for 2006, this reduction in natural coverage caused changes in the configuration of forests and savannas. In the case of forest, the fragments density increased from 0.073 per 100 ha in 1976 to 0.509 in 2006, being the mean distance between fragments of 151 and 210 m, respectively. Also a reduction in the size of the fragments was measured, with fragment surfaces of 1,204 in 1976 to 54 in 2006. This fragmentation pattern was not repeated in the case of savannas, as the same size was very small in relation to the forest, and secondly, the process of deforestation caused that they are isolated or in some cases forming isolated patches of savannas surrounded by a matrix of anthropogenic use. On the other hand, the dispersion index (ID) shows that for both cases, the fragments are aggregates, which corroborate the pattern of savannas, but for the case of forests, tend to have a random distribution.

Keywords : GIS; Pattern of deforestation; Pattern of fragmentation; San Julian.

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