The Vegatation cover changes in the Machalilla National Park through vegetation indcies assessment in Manabi province

Abstract

Nowadays, farming and urban expansion threaten natural forests on the earth (FAO, 2016), for instance, the Machalilla National Park (MNP henceforth). This protected area is considered as Management Category II (UICN, 2017) and protects one the most sensitive ecosystems in Ecuador, tropical dry forest (MAE, 2017). The primary research aim was about to determine the vegetation cover change of the MNP in the latest 30 years. It was employed three Landsat satellite images, orthophotos and vegetation indexes to quantify rate changes in three periods 1986-2000, 2000- 2016 and 1986-2016. Moreover, it was performed supervised land classification on 2016 image to set vegetation index thresholds, this operation needed to verify land covers in the study area. As a result, there has been decreased 195,28 ha annually of natural vegetation cover in the MNP within last 30 years, and mostly these changes happened in the 1986-2000 period showing 181,20 ha loss a year. Hence, the dry forest was much more susceptible. This geospatial analysis allowed to make a vegetation-cover change susceptibility map of the PNM, which let to know 73,82% natural vegetation loss is gathered within very high and high susceptibility zones, which are nearby roadways and villages such as Buena Vista Valley, Agua Blanca Commune.